Note that the lists of candidates and platforms in this table are in Hebrew.

About the 1969 Elections

The elections for the Seventh Knesset, the first after the Six Day War, were important elections, because for the first time, the political-security issue (the fate of the territories occupied in 1967) turned into the central issue around which the array of parties coalesced. In addition, the 1969 elections marked the continued trend of transition from a dominant party system to a two-bloc system.

The 1969 elections were held over two years after the end of the Six Day War, when the feeling of euphoria had long since given way to frustration, which was rooted in the on-going war of attrition along the Egyptian border and the inability to reach a decision or a political settlement. The criticism of the ruling party brought its leaders to once again seek a way to broaden the body in which they would run for Knesset. After Mapai united with Ahdut Ha'Avoda and Rafi to form the Israel Labor Party in 1968, this new party ran in a joint list with Mapam that once again assumed the name "Alignment" (Ma'arach). This joint list of all of the Zionist workers parties received 56 seats, the largest number of seats that any list had ever received in the political history of the State of Israel. In fact, however, the parties that made up the Alignment lost seven seats compared to the 1965 elections. Gahal preserved its power (26 seats) as did the religious parties. The State List, led by Ben-Gurion, received only four seats.

The coalition that was formed after the 1969 elections was a continuation of the national unity government formed on the eve of the Six Day War. It included the Alignment, Gahal, the National Religious Party (NRP), and the Independent Liberals. With the Arab satellite lists, the coalition had an unprecedented majority of 102 members of Knesset, and no fewer than 24 ministers.

For Additional Reading

Alan Arian (ed.), The Elections in Israel 1969, Jerusalem: Jerusalem Academic Press, 1972.

Don Peretz, "Israel's 1969 Election Issues: The Visible and Invisible", Middle East Journal, 24 (1) (1970), pp. 31-46.