Israeli legislative election, 2013

Elections for the 19th Knesset

← 2009 22 January 2013 (2013-01-22) 2015 →

Party Leader % Seats ± Likud Yisrael Beiteinu Benjamin Netanyahu 23.34% 31 -11 Yesh Atid Yair Lapid 14.33% 19 New Labor Shelly Yachimovich 11.39% 15 +2 The Jewish Home Naftali Bennett 9.12% 12 +9 Shas Eli Yishai 8.75% 11 +1 United Torah Judaism Yaakov Litzman 5.16% 7 +2 Hatnuah Tzipi Livni 4.99% 6 New Meretz Zehava Gal-On 4.55% 6 +3 United Arab List Ibrahim Sarsur 3.65% 4 0 Hadash Mohammad Barakeh 2.99% 4 0 Balad Jamal Zahalka 2.56% 3 0 Kadima Shaul Mofaz 2.09% 2 -26 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Benjamin Netanyahu Likud Benjamin Netanyahu Likud Yisrael Beiteinu

Early elections for the nineteenth Knesset were held in Israel on 22 January 2013. Public debate over the Tal Law had nearly led to early elections in 2012, but they were aborted at the last moment after Kadima briefly joined the government. The elections were later called in early October 2012 after failure to agree on the budget for the 2013 fiscal year.

The elections saw the Likud Yisrael Beiteinu alliance emerge as the largest faction in the Knesset, winning 31 of the 120 seats. Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu formed the country's thirty-third government after establishing a coalition with Yesh Atid, the Jewish Home and Hatnuah, which between them held 68 seats.

Following the 2009 elections, in which right-wing and religious parties won the majority (65 out of 120, or 54%) of the seats, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu established a government including right-wing parties Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu, the ultra-orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism, the religious Zionist Jewish Home, and the centre-left Labor Party.

Although there were disagreements between the coalition parties on issues of national security and the peace process, separation of church and state, the government was relatively stable and was able to overcome several political and national security related crises with no real threat from the opposition. The stability of the coalition government increased after a split in the Labor Party when five of its members led by Ehud Barak left to establish the Independence Party. Whilst the Labor Party subsequently left the coalition, Independence remained within it, allowing the government to maintain a majority of 66 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.