General Information
Israeli Knesset Election September 17, 2019
At Stake in this Election:
- 120 seats in the Knesset[1]
Government Structure:
- Chief of State: President Reuben RIVLIN (since 27 July 2014)
- Head of Government: Prime Minister Binyamin NETANYAHU (since 31 March 2009, most recently reformed on 15 May 2015)
- Assembly: Unicameral Knesset (120 seats; members directly elected in a single nationwide constituency by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms)
Electoral System:
- The President is elected by parliament to serve a 7-year term.
- Prime Minister 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. There is a 3.25% threshold required to gain representation. All candidates run in one national district.
Main Parties in this Election[2]:
- Coalition: Likud-Kulanu
- Leader: Benjamin NETANYAHU
- Seat won in April 2019 election: 39[3]
- Alliance: Blue and White, Kahol Lavan
- Leader(s): Benny GANTZ and Yair LAPID
- Seats won in April 2019 election: 35
- Alliance: United Right[4]
- Leader: Ayelet SHAKED
- Seats won in April 2019 election: 5
- Alliance: Joint List
- Leader: Ayman ODEH
- Seats won in April 2019 election: N/A[5]
- Party: Yisrael Beiteinu
- Leader: Avigdor LIEBERMAN
- Seats won in April 2019 election: 5
- Alliance: United Torah Judaism
- Leader: Yaakov LITZMAN
- Seats won in April 2019 election: 8
- Party: Shas
- Leader: Aryeh DERI
- Seats won in April 2019 election: 8
- Alliance: Labor-Gesher
- Leader: Amir PERETZ
- Seats won in April 2019 election: 6[6]
- Alliance: Democratic Union[7]
- Leader: Nitzan HOROWITZ
- Seats won in April 2019 election:4[8]
Population and Registered Voters:
- Population: 8,583,916 (2019 est.)
- Registered Voters: 6,339,729 (April 2019)
Gender Data:
- Female Population: 4,314,369 (2019 est.)
- Is Israel a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)
- Has Israel ratified CEDAW: Yes (3 October 1991)
- Gender Quota: Political parties have voluntary quotas but there are no legislated quotas.
- Female Candidates in this election: Yes
- Number of Female Legislators: 33 (27.5%) of 120 seats in the Knesset
- Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 22 (2018)
- Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A (2019)
Disability Data:
- Is Israel a signatory to CRPD: Yes (20 March 2007)
- Has Israel ratified CRPD: Yes (28 September 2012)
- Population with a disability: 1,207,397 (est.)
[1] Israel had an election in April 2019. No government was formed as a result, and new elections were called for.
[2] There are 12 parties total running in this election.
[3] In the last election, Likud and Kulanu ran as separate parties. Likud won 35 seats, and Kulanu won 4 seats.
[4] The United Right is an alliance of several religious Zionist parties, comprised of the Union of Right-Wing Parties (Tkuma and The Jewish Home) and the New Right.
[5] The alliance is made up of four ideologically diverse Arab Israeli parties, who together had 10 seats in the 21st Knesset. Factions include the Ra'am, Hadash, Ta'al and Balad.
[6] In the last election, the Labor party won 6 seats, and the Gesher party did not pass the electoral threshold.
[7] This party is made up of Meretz, the new Israel Democratic Party formed by former prime minister Ehud Barak, Israeli Labor Party defector Stav Shaffir, and the extra-parliamentary Green Movement.
[8] In the last election, the Meretz party won 4 seats.