At stake in this election:

• 120 seats in the Knesset

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Moshe KATZAV
• Head of Government: Prime Minister (Acting) Ehud OLMERT **
• Assembly: Israel has a unicameral Knesset with 120 seats.

** Ehud OLMERT became Acting Prime Minister after Prime Minister Ariel SHARON suffered a serious stroke in January 2006.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by parliament to serve a 7-year term.
• The Prime Minister (Acting) is designated by the president to serve a 4-year term.
• In the Knesset 120 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Kadima*
  • Leader: Ehud OLMERT
  • Seats won in this election: 29
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Labor-Meimad
  • Leader: Amir PERETZ
  • Seats won in this election: 19
  • Seats won in last election: 19
• Party: Shas
  • Leader: Eliyahu YISHAI
  • Seats won in this election: 12
  • Seats won in last election: 11
• Party: Likud
  • Leader: Benjamin NETANYAHU
  • Seats won in this election: 12
  • Seats won in last election: 38
• Party: Israel Our Home / Yisrael Beitenu
  • Leader: Avigdor LIEBERMAN
  • Seats won in this election: 11
  • Seats won in last election: 4
• Party: National Union-National Religious Party / Ichud Leumi - Mafdal******
  • Leader: Benyamin ELON
  • Seats won in this election: 9
  • Seats won in last election: 9
• Party: Pensioners of Israel to the Knesset / Gimla'ey Yisrael LaKneset (GIL)*******
  • Leader: Eitan Pentman REPHAEL
  • Seats won in this election: 7
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Torah and Shabbat Judaism
  • Leader: Yakov LITZMAN
  • Seats won in this election: 6
  • Seats won in last election: 5
• Party: Meretz - Democratic Israel
  • Leader: Yossi BEILIN
  • Seats won in this election: 5
  • Seats won in last election: 6
• Party: United Arab List - Arab Renewal
  • Leader: Ibrahim TZARTZUR
  • Seats won in this election: 4
  • Seats won in last election: 2
• Party: Democratic Front for Peace and Equality / Hadash
  • Leader: Mohammad BARAKE
  • Seats won in this election: 3
  • Seats won in last election: 3
• Party: National Democratic Assembly
  • Leader: Azmi BISHARA
  • Seats won in this election: 3
  • Seats won in last election: 3
• Party: Others
  • Leader: N/A
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: N/A

* Kadima Party was formed in November 2005.
****** In the last election, the National Union obtained 4 seats, while the National Religious Party won 5.
******* The GIL party was formed following the last election.

Last Parliamentary election:

• The last parliamentary election was held on January 28, 2003.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 7,053,700 (2006)
• Registered Voters: 5,014,622 (March 2006)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 3,572,947 (2006)

·         Is Israel a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Israel ratified CEDAW: Yes (3 October 1991)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 17 (following the 2006 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 18 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Ireland a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Ireland ratified CRPD: Yes (28 September 2012)

·         Population with a disability: 1,058,055 (est.)