HaMerkaz HaHofshi


 

HaMerkaz HaHofshi

Founded in 1967

HaMerkaz HaHofshi ("The Free Center"), founded by Shmuel Tamir, was a party active from 1967 until 1976. The party was founded following Tamir’s attempt to challenge Menachem Begin’s leadership of the Herut Movement and to bring about organizational changes in the movement. This attempt led to a struggle between the rebels and those faithful to Begin, which ended in Tamir's expulsion from Herut. In reaction to this move, Tamir and two additional Knesset members from Gahal formed the Merkaz HaHofshi party. In ideological terms it did not differ significantly from Herut, the party from which it had broken off.

HaMerkaz HaHofshi ran independently in the 1969 elections for the Seventh Knesset and won two seats. In the run-up to the next elections, the party joined Herut and the Liberals (which had been running together as Gahal since 1965) and were among the founders of the Likud list. Four members of HaMerkaz HaHofshi entered the eighth Knesset as part of the Likud, among them the future Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. During the eighth Knesset, the party split: Olmert and Eliezer Shostak left the party (but remained in the Likud) and Shmuel Tamir and Akiva Nof left the Likud and joined Dash (the Democratic Movement for Change).
 

 

table
Election Year Votes Count Number Of Seats Share Of Votes List Of Candidates Platform
1969 16,393 2 1.2 Candidates Candidates

Note that the candidates in this table are in Hebrew

Shmuel Tamir, Eliezer Shostak, Ehud Olmert