1951 Israeli Election
30 July 1951 · The Mapai decades · 120 seats, 61 for a majority
The second Knesset was highly unstable, with four separate governments, two different Prime Ministers and several defections; Rostam Bastuni, Avraham Berman and Moshe Sneh left Mapam and set up the Left Faction. Bastuni later returned to Mapam whilst Berman and Sneh joined Maki.
Prime Minister before
David Ben-Gurion
Mapai
Prime Minister (continued)
David Ben-Gurion
Mapai
Largest force
Mapai
45 of 120 seats
Turnout
75.2%
The result
| Share of the Knesset | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mapai | — | 45 | -1 | 256,456 | 37.3% | — | |
| General Zionists | — | 20 | +13 | 111,394 | 16.2% | — | |
| Mapam | — | 15 | -4 | 86,095 | 12.5% | — | |
| Hapoel HaMizrachi | — | 8 | +1 | 46,347 | 6.7% | — | |
| Herut | — | 8 | -6 | 45,651 | 6.6% | — | |
| Maki | — | 5 | +1 | 27,334 | 4.0% | — | |
| Progressive Party | — | 4 | -1 | 22,171 | 3.2% | — | |
| Democratic List for Israeli Arabs | — | 3 | — | 16,370 | 2.4% | — |
12 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.