1999 Israeli Election
1999 · The direct-election experiment · 120 seats, 61 for a majority
The elections were only the second time in Israeli history that the prime minister had been directly elected; the first such election in 1996 had been an extremely tight contest between Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud and Shimon Peres of Labor, with Netanyahu winning by just 29,000 votes.
Prime Minister before
Benjamin Netanyahu
Likud
Prime Minister after
Ehud Barak
One Israel
Largest force
One Israel
26 of 120 seats
Turnout
78.7%
The result
| Share of the Knesset | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Israel | — | 26 | -11 | 670,484 | 20.3% | — | |
| Likud | — | 19 | -8 | 468,103 | 14.1% | — | |
| Shas | — | 17 | +7 | 430,676 | 13.0% | — | |
| Meretz | — | 10 | +1 | 253,525 | 7.7% | — | |
| Yisrael BaAliyah | — | 6 | -1 | 171,705 | 5.2% | — | |
| Shinui | — | 6 | — | 167,748 | 5.1% | — | |
| Centre Party | — | 6 | — | 165,622 | 5.0% | — | |
| National Religious Party | — | 5 | -4 | 140,307 | 4.2% | — |
25 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.