Elections for the 13th Knesset were held in Israel on 23 June 1992. The election resulted in the formation of a Labor government, led by Yitzhak Rabin, helped by the failure of several small right wing parties to pass the electoral threshold."The 1992 Knesset Elections Revisited" Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Voter turnout was 77%.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p. 128

Background The First Intifada, which began in 1987 and impacted the outcome of the 1988 election, had not ended by 1992.

In 1990, Labor's Shimon Peres tried to piece together a left-wing government against the Likud, which was known as the dirty trick. However, Agudat Yisrael bailed on the deal, and Peres's plan collapsed. He resigned from Labor leadership, and was replaced with former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The breakout of the Gulf War had major ramifications for Israeli politics. Iraqi strikes on Israel in early 1991 killed 76 Israelis, and blame was placed onto the Likud for a poor response. While Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein had hoped Israel would retaliate and get Middle Eastern countries to support Iraq in the war, Jordan and the United States convinced Israel not to strike back. This had the effect of making the Likud look weak on defence issues.

The Gulf War also led to the further fragmentation of the left-wing Progressive List for Peace, as its Jewish members left over the party's support for Hussein's regime.

Rabin's Labour became more popular for its strong defence policy, which convinced Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to attempt negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization at the Madrid Conference of 1991. This was unpopular with right-wing voters, many of whom flocked to the radical-right Tzomet party, which withdrew from Shamir's government due to the conference.

In October 1991, the electoral threshold was raised from 1% to 1.5%. This was the first reform to the threshold since 1949. Previous proposals to raise it to 4% in the 1950s and the 1960s failed due to the protests of smaller parties. This time, smaller parties, including Mafdal and Tehiya were supportive of raising the threshold.

The downfall of the Soviet Union in December 1991 accelerated the aliyah of its Jewish population. From 1989 to 1991, over 340,000 Soviet Jews moved to Israel. Due to the Aliyah law, all Jewish immigrants to Israel are granted immediate citizenship and the right to vote. Initial polls predicted they would vote for Likud and other right-wing parties, due to their perceived dislike for socialism. A late 1990 PORI poll showed that 78% of Soviet Israelis surveyed would vote for a right-wing party. However, their votes began to shift away from the right, as they shared the general dissatisfaction for the Likud.

Parliament factions

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 12th Knesset. Name Ideology Symbol Leader 1988 resultSeats at 1992dissolution Votes (%) Seats Likud National liberalism Yitzhak Shamir31.1% Labor Social democracy Yitzhak Rabin30.0% Meretz ProgressivismSecularism — Shulamit AloniYair TzabanAmnon Rubinstein— did not exist Shas Religious conservatismPopulism Aryeh Deri4.7% Agudat Yisrael Religious conservatism Moshe Ze'ev Feldman4.5% Ratz ProgressivismSecularism Shulamit Aloni4.3% no longer existed Mafdal Religious Zionism Avner Shaki3.9% Hadash CommunismSocialism Meir Vilner3.7% Tehiya UltranationalismRevisionist Zionism Yuval Ne'emanGeula Cohen3.1% Mapam Labor ZionismDemocratic socialism Yair Tzaban2.5% no longer existed New Liberal Party Liberalism — Yitzhak Moda'i— did not exist Tzomet National conservatismAgrarianism Rafael Eitan2.0% Moledet Ultranationalism Rehavam Ze'evi1.9% Shinui LiberalismCentrism Amnon Rubinstein1.7% no longer existed Degel HaTorah Religious conservatism Avraham Ravitz1.5% PLFP Palestinian nationalism Mohammed Miari1.5% Mada Arab interests Abdulwahab Darawshe1.2% Moria Ultra-Orthodox interest — Yitzhak Peretz— did not exist Geulat Yisrael Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox interest — Eliezer Mizrahi— did not exist

Campaign period Campaign slogans Party or allianceOriginal sloganEnglish translation Likud"Likud - that's right!"Labor"Israel is waiting for Rabin"Meretz"A government with Meretz [vigor], the power to make the change [Shinui]"Mafdal"Mafdal stands by you [lit. to your right]"UTJ"We are all with God"Hadash"The left is Hadash"Tzomet"Israel is safe with Tzomet"Tehiya"Tehiya - there is a reliable right!"

Opinion polls The Israel Broadcasting Authority separated the parties into two blocs:

Left-wing: Jewish: Alignment, Meretz (Ratz, Mapam, Shinui) Arab: Hadash, PLP, Mada Right-wing: Secular: Likud, Tehiya, Tzomet, Moledet Religious: UTJ, Shas, Degel HaTorah

Seat projections Note: Political blocs do not necessarily determine the exact makeup of post-election coalitions. DatePoll clientLikudAlignment/LaborMeretzTehiyaTzometMoledetHadashPLPMadaShasMafdalUTJOthersLeadLeftRightLeadRatzMapamShinuiAgudat YisraelDegel Final results32441208330266401261592Exit poll on Channel 13347130632025540146456819 June 1992Hadashot3840113546445025763614 June 1992Hadashot364111454644405586248 June 1992Hadashot34431111615096060Tie1 June 1992Hadashot334510443645601261592'mid-late' May 1992Hadashot354293456457175762515 May 1992Hadashot324691161401463576'early' May 1992Hadashot33439363654711058613'late' April 1992Hadashot31469354654601561592Hadashot353615444645520157636Hadashot3532153556566203536714Hadashot442915443644610155070204-12 November 1991Smith Research Institute412692N/A344521N/AN/AN/AN/A2314N/AN/AN/A6 September 1991Smith Research Institute4129923445N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A2312N/AN/AN/AAugust 1991Hadashot383312445655620551691831 July 1991Ma'ariv32301011N/AN/AN/A1692N/AN/AN/AHadashot38337415346656205516918Hadashot39347415346555205526816Hadashot40327414456555208507020Outgoing Knesset383810322411554220566461988 results403953232241165520556646

Results

Aftermath

Labor's Yitzhak Rabin formed the twenty-fifth government on 13 July 1992, including Meretz and Shas in his coalition, which had 17 ministers. Hadash and the Arab Democratic Party also supported the government despite not being coalition members. Shas left the coalition in September 1993, and Yiud joined in January 1995.

Coverage of the election night dubbed Labor's victory another 'Mahapach' (, ), a term used to describe the Likud's first victory in 1977. The election marked a new age in Israeli politics in other senses. Political parties that had been mainstays in the Knesset in the 1980s were eliminated and subsequently disappeared. The Progressive List for Peace suffered a second mass exodus of members after 1992, with some eventually forming the Balad party. Tehiya, who were riding a polling surge in the mid-1980s, blamed its loss on 'personality-driven' parties on the right, with the leader Geulah Cohen singling out Tehiya's former ally Tzomet. Tehiya would have won a seat if the election threshold was not raised to 1.5%, a policy that the party ironically supported. The party disappeared.

Tzomet had a brief period of success, with its leader Rafael "Raful" Eitan claiming he was ready to negotiate with both left and right blocs, due to his party's ideologies of both secularism (which had been Meretz's main campaign point) and nationalism. His image as a veteran was well respected, but the MKs he brought with him were inexperienced and did not follow his party line, with many raising allegations that Raful was behaving 'tyrannically'. By the end of the Knesset term, Tzomet only had two MKs out of its original eight.

The Knesset term saw several defections; two MKs left the Labor Party to establish the Third Way, whilst Nava Arad also left the party. Two MKs left Likud to establish Gesher, whilst Efraim Gur also left the party. Three MKs left Tzomet to establish Yiud; one MK then left Yiud to establish Atid. Yosef Azran left Shas. One MK left Moledet to establish Yamin Yisrael, whilst Yosef Ba-Gad also left the party to sit as in independent. United Torah Judaism split into Agudat Yisrael (two seats) and Degel HaTorah (two seats), but it would reunify in time for the next election.

Rabin's government advanced the peace process to unprecedented levels; the Oslo Accords were signed with Yasser Arafat's PLO in 1993 and the Israel–Jordan peace treaty in 1994. The government's willingness to make peace with Syria and concede the Golan Heights led to Avigdor Kahalani and Emanuel Zisman leaving the party to form the Third Way.

The government also continued sweeping reforms of the previously socialised economy, which had been set up by Labour's forerunners. Measures were enacted to privatise more public assets and to attract foreign capital. Meanwhile, a new national health insurance was introduced, ending the old Histadrut-dominated insurance system. Healthcare and education spending were increased.

After Rabin's assassination on 4 November 1995, Shimon Peres took over as Prime Minister and formed a new government on 22 November 1995. His coalition was the same as before; Labor, Meretz and Yiud. Peres called early elections in 1996 in order to seek a mandate to continue the peace process,"Memory of Rabin likely to influence Israeli elections" CNN, 5 February 1996 in which he lost.

See also Party lists for the 1992 Israeli legislative election 1992 Israeli Labor Party leadership election 1992 Israeli Labor Party primary 1992 Likud leadership election

Notes

References

External links Historical overview of the Thirteenth Knesset Knesset website Election results Knesset website