Shinui
Shinui
Founded in 1974
Shinui (literally: "Change") was a liberal, centrist, secular party established in 1974, which went through various incarnations. It was established following the wave of protests in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, and its founders, headed by Prof. Amnon Rubinstein, were largely businessmen, young academics, and professionals. In 1976, Shinui joined Dash (the Democratic Movement for Change), headed by Yigael Yadin, which ran in the 1977 elections for the Ninth Knesset. Following Dash's disintegration, four of its Knesset members established the Shinui parliamentary group, and left the Begin government, which Dash had joined. In the 1981 elections, Shinui ran independently, as it did in the following two elections.
Shinui offered a combination of secular, dovish, and liberal positions that supported market economics and reducing government involvement in the economy. It was a prominent voice against religious coercion and in favor of separation of religion and state, and supported both direct negotiations with the PLO and the right of Palestinians to self-determination.
Before the 1992 elections, Shinui joined Ratz and Mapam to form the Meretz list. When Meretz became a party in 1997, most of the members of Shinui left Meretz and prepared to run independently in the 1999 elections, under the leadership of Avraham Poraz. A short time before the elections, the journalist Yosef (Tommy) Lapid was invited to head Shinui, and led the party in the elections. Shinui won six seats, and 15 seats in the 2003 elections. Prior to the 2006 elections for the 17th Knesset, internal squabbles weakened the party, Lapid and Poraz resigned from the party, and Shinui failed to pass the electoral threshold.
| Election Year | Votes Count | Number Of Seats | Share Of Votes | List Of Candidates | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 4,675 | - | 0.1 |
Candidates
|
|
| 2003 | 386,535 | 15 | 12.3 |
Candidates
|
Platform
|
| 1999 | 167,748 | 6 | 5.1 |
Candidates
|
Platform
|
| 1988 | 39,538 | 2 | 1.7 |
Candidates
|
Platform
|
| 1984 | 54,747 | 3 | 2.6 |
Candidates
|
Platform
|
| 1981 | 29,837 | 2 | 1.5 |
Candidates
|
Platform
|
Note that the candidates and platforms in this table are in Hebrew
Amnon Rubinstein, Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, Avraham Poraz
Shinui participated in the two national unity governments that were formed during the 11th Knesset, in which Amnon Rubinstein served as the Minister of Communications. Shinui was also a senior partner in Ariel Sharon’s second government, which was established after the 2003 elections. Yosef Lapid, Eliezer Sandberg, Yehudit Naot, Yosef Paritzky, Ilan Shalgi and Victor Brailovsky served as Ministers for Shinui (the latter two were appointed later and served briefly). The Shinui Ministers were fired from the government in December 2004 after they voted against the 2005 budget, which had included increased allocations to the ultra-Orthodox.