Israeli legislative election, 1984

Elections for the eleventh Knesset were held in Israel on 23 July, 1984. Voter turnout was 78.1%.

Results

¹ Mapam and the Arab Democratic Party broke away from the Alignment, whilst one MK defected to Ratz and one to Shinui.

² Yahad merged into the Alignment.

³ Mordechai Virshubski defected from Shinui to Ratz.

⁴ Ometz and Tami merged into Likud.

⁵ Tzomet broke away from Tehiya.

⁶ Haim Druckman defected from Morasha to the National Religious Party.

⁷ Shimon Ben-Shlomo broke away from Shas.

⁸ Mohammed Wattad defected from Mapam to Hadash.

Non-qualifiers

*Development and Peace

The Eleventh Knesset

Due to the stalemate produced by the elections, it was decided to form a national unity government, with the Alignment and Likud holding the leadership for two years each. The Alignment's Shimon Peres formed the 21st government on 13 September, 1984, and as well as Likud, the coalition included the National Religious Party, Agudat Israel, Shas, Morasha, Shinui and Ometz. Aside from national unity governments created at a time of war (notably the government formed during the Six-Day War in the term of the sixth Knesset, which had 111 MKs), it was the largest ever government in Israeli political history, with 97 MKs.

In accordance with the rotation agreement, Peres resigned in 1986 and Likud's Yitzhak Shamir formed the 22nd government on 20 October, 1986. Shinui left the coalition on 26 May, 1987.

The eleventh Knesset also contained two controversial parties, Kach and the Progressive List for Peace (PLFP). Kach was a far-right party that advocated the expulsion of Israeli Arabs, and although it had run in previous elections, it had not passed the electoral threshold. Ultimately the party was banned after a law was passed barring parties that incited racism. The attempts made to stop Kach from competing in the next elections also affected the pro-Palestinian PLFP, as the addition of section 7a to the Basic Law dealing with the Knesset ("Prevention of Participation of Candidates List") included the banning of parties that denied Israel's existence as a Jewish state:

:"A candidates' list shall not participate in elections to the Knesset if its objects or actions, expressly or by implication, include one of the following... negation of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people."

On this basis, the Central Elections Committee initially banned the PLFP from running for the 1988 elections, arguing that its policies promoted the scapping of Israel as a Jewish state. However, the decision was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court of Israel, and party was able to compete in the elections, winning one seat. Nevertheless, the law was not overturned, the Supreme Court merely deciding it was impossible to determine if "the real, central and active purpose [of the PFLP] is to bring about the elimination of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people", ^{[http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=162890&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y]} and attempts were made to ban the Israeli Arab parties Balad and Ta'al using the same law prior to the 2003 elections.

External links

* [http://www.knesset.gov.il/review/ReviewPage.aspx?kns=11&lng=3 Historical overview of the Eleventh Knesset] Knesset website en icon
* [http://www.knesset.gov.il/history/eng/eng_hist11_s.htm Election results on the official Knesset website (in English)]