1999 Israeli general election
17 May 1999
Turnout78.7%
Prime ministerial election
 
Candidate Ehud Barak Benjamin Netanyahu
Party One Israel Likud
Popular vote 1,791,020 1,402,474
Percentage 56.1% 43.9%
Prime Minister before election

Benjamin Netanyahu
Likud

 Prime Minister after election

Ehud Barak
One Israel

Knesset election
PartyLeader % Seats +/–
One Israel Ehud Barak 20.3 26 −11
Likud Benjamin Netanyahu 14.1 19 −8
Shas Aryeh Deri 13.0 17 +7
Meretz Yossi Sarid 7.6 10 +1
Yisrael BaAliyah Natan Sharansky 5.1 6 −1
Shinui Yosef Lapid 5.0 6 New
Centre Party Yitzhak Mordechai 5.0 6 New
Mafdal Yitzhak Levi 4.2 5 −4
UTJ Meir Porush 3.7 5 +1
Ra'am Abdulmalik Dehamshe 3.4 5 −1
National Union Benny Begin 3.0 4 New
Hadash Mohammad Barakeh 2.6 3 −1
Yisrael Beiteinu Avigdor Lieberman 2.6 4 New
Balad Azmi Bishara 1.9 2 +1
One Nation Amir Peretz 1.9 2 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Speaker of the Knesset before Speaker of the Knesset after
Dan Tichon Dan Tichon
Likud		 Avraham Burg
One Israel		Avraham Burg

Early general elections for both the Prime Minister and the Knesset were held in Israel on 17 May 1999 following a vote of no confidence in the government; the incumbent Likud Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ran for re-election.

This election was only the second time in Israeli history an election had been held for the Prime Minister's post in addition to elections for the Knesset. The first such election, in 1996 had been an extremely tight contest between Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu on the right, and Labor's Shimon Peres on the left; the right had won by less than one percent (about 29,000 votes).

Ehud Barak, promising peace talks and withdrawal from Lebanon by July 2000,[1][2] won the election in a landslide victory.

History

In the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, although the Likud government had negotiated the Wye River Memorandum and it had passed the Knesset overwhelmingly in November 1998, subsequent negotiations with the Palestinians were going badly. The lack of progress had alienated support for the government on the left, as well as on its right. The left claimed negotiations were moving too slowly, while the more extreme right were unhappy with the contemplated territorial concessions included in the memorandum itself.

The Likud–Gesher–Tzomet alliance had fallen apart, with more members leaving Likud to set up Herut – The National Movement and the Centre Party.

Netanyahu's government finally gave up the ghost due to difficulties in passing the state budget and in January 1999 passed a bill calling for early elections.

Ehud Barak, the leader of the main opposition Labor Party, was Netanyahu's main challenger in this election. Before the elections, Ehud Barak's Labor Party formed an alliance with Gesher and Meimad called One Israel in the hope that a united front on the centre-left would give them enough seats to form a more stable coalition.

The rising death toll and lack of military victory in Israel's long-running occupation in south Lebanon had soured voter support for the Likud policy.

Campaign

Initially, three other candidates planned to run; these included: Benny Begin of Herut – The National Movement, running to the right of Likud; Azmi Bishara of the Israeli Arab Balad party, running to the left of One Israel and the first from that minority to stand for Prime Minister, and; Yitzhak Mordechai of the Centre Party, running on positions between those of Likud on the right and One Israel on the left.

Over the course of the campaign however, Begin, Bishara, and Mordechai all dropped out of the race for Prime Minister, after it became clear that they could not win, and that their continued presence would cost votes for the major candidates, Barak and Netanyahu, at their respective ends of the political spectrum. The parties these other candidates represented however, continued to run in the concurrent Knesset elections.

Two parties, Manhigut Yehudit and Voice of the Environment, initially signed up to participate in the elections, but withdrew their candidacy before election day.

Results

Prime Minister

CandidatePartyVotes%
Ehud BarakOne Israel1,791,02056.08
Benjamin NetanyahuLikud1,402,47443.92
Total3,193,494100.00
Valid votes3,193,49494.68
Invalid/blank votes179,4585.32
Total votes3,372,952100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,285,42878.71
Source: Nohlen et al.

Knesset

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
One Israel670,48420.2626−11
Likud468,10314.1419−8
Shas430,67613.0117+7
Meretz253,5257.6610+1
Yisrael BaAliyah171,7055.196−1
Shinui167,7485.076New
Centre Party165,6225.006New
National Religious Party140,3074.245−4
United Torah Judaism125,7413.805+1
United Arab List114,8103.475−1
National Union100,1813.034New
Hadash87,0222.633−1
Yisrael Beiteinu86,1532.604New
Balad66,1032.002+1
One Nation64,1431.942New
Pnina Rosenblum44,9531.360New
Power for Pensioners37,5251.130New
Ale Yarok34,0291.030New
The Third Way26,2900.790–4
Green Party13,2920.400New
Tikva7,3660.220New
Casino Party6,5400.200New
Lev LaOlim6,3110.190New
Negev Party4,3240.130New
Tzomet4,1280.120New
Natural Law Party2,9240.090New
Progressive Center Party2,7970.080New
Da'am Workers Party2,1510.0600
New Arab Party2,0420.060New
Justice for All1,2570.040New
Moreshet Avot1,1640.040New
Total3,309,416100.001200
Valid votes3,309,41698.09
Invalid/blank votes64,3321.91
Total votes3,373,748100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,285,42878.73
Source: IDI, Nohlen et al.

Yisrael Beiteinu gained a seat after the vote-sharing process was completed.

Aftermath

Although Barak won the Prime Ministerial election comfortably, his One Israel alliance won only 26 seats, meaning he had to form a convoluted coalition with Shas, Meretz, Yisrael BaAliyah, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party and United Torah Judaism.

When Barak's government collapsed after the start of the Second Intifada and the October Israeli Arab riots in 2000, Barak called new elections for Prime Minister in the hope of winning an authoritative mandate. However, he was well-beaten by Ariel Sharon and subsequently resigned from politics.

15th Knesset

After winning the Prime Ministerial elections, Ehud Barak formed the 28th government of Israel on 6 July 1999. His coalition included One Israel, Shas, Meretz, Yisrael BaAliyah, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party and United Torah Judaism, and initially had 16 ministers, though the number later rose to 24. Avraham Burg was appointed as Speaker of the Knesset.

United Torah Judaism left the coalition in September 1999 after a breach of the Sabbath. The government finally collapsed on 10 December 2000 when Barak resigned in the face of the outbreak of the Second Intifada and the Israeli Arab riots of October. Barak called new elections for the position of Prime Minister, which he lost to Ariel Sharon.

Sharon formed the 29th government on 7 March 2001. He set up a national unity government, including Likud, Labor-Meimad, Shas, the Centre Party, the National Religious Party, United Torah Judaism, Yisrael BaAliyah, and National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu. Sharon's government had 26 ministers, which later rose to 29, necessitating the addition of a small table to the end of the Ministers row in the Knesset.

During the Knesset term, there were several splits, mergers, and defections. The One Israel alliance broke into its constituent parts, Labor-Meimad (25 seats) and Gesher (2 seats). Five members left the Centre Party, with three forming New Way and two establishing Lev, which immediately merged into Likud. Later, two of the three that set up New Way resigned from the Knesset and were replaced by Centre Party members, whilst the remaining New Way MK joined Labor-Meimad. Two MKs left Yisrael BaAliyah to establish the Democratic Choice, whilst three MKs left the United Arab List; two established the Arab National Party and one formed National Unity – National Progressive Alliance. Michael Kleiner left the National Union to establish Herut – The National Movement, whilst the National Union became allied to Yisrael Beiteinu. Ahmed Tibi left Balad to establish Ta'al.

See also

References

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