1996 Israeli Election

First direct PM vote

29 May 1996 · The direct-election experiment · 120 seats, 61 for a majority

The elections for prime minister resulted in a surprise victory for Benjamin Netanyahu, by a margin of 29,457 votes, less than 1% of the total number of votes cast, and much smaller than the number of spoiled votes. This came after the initial exit polls had predicted a Shimon Peres win, spawning the phrase "went to sleep with Peres, woke up with Netanyahu".

Prime Minister before

Shimon Peres

Labor Party

Prime Minister after

Benjamin Netanyahu

Likud

Largest force

Labor Party

34 of 120 seats

Turnout

—

The result

Sort by

Labor Party

26.8% of votes · -10 seats

seats

Likud–Gesher–Tzomet

25.1% of votes · -8 seats

seats

Shas

8.5% of votes · +4 seats

seats

National Religious Party

7.9% of votes · +3 seats

seats

Meretz

7.4% of votes · -3 seats

seats

Yisrael BaAliyah

5.7% of votes

seats

Hadash–Balad

4.2% of votes · +2 seats

seats

United Torah Judaism

3.2% of votes · 0 seats

seats


Labor Party	—	34	-10	818,741	26.8%	—
Likud–Gesher–Tzomet	—	32	-8	767,401	25.1%	—
Shas	—	10	+4	259,796	8.5%	—
National Religious Party	—	9	+3	240,271	7.9%	—
Meretz	—	9	-3	226,275	7.4%	—
Yisrael BaAliyah	—	7	—	174,994	5.7%	—
Hadash–Balad	—	5	+2	129,455	4.2%	—
United Torah Judaism	—	4	0	98,657	3.2%	—

10 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.