Ninth Knesset

Elections for the 9th Knesset

← 1973 17 May 1977 1981 →

Party Leader % Seats ± Likud Menachem Begin 33.4% 43 +4 Alignment Shimon Peres 24.6% 32 -19 Democratic Movement for Change Yigael Yadin 11.6% 15 New Mafdal Yosef Burg 9.2% 12 +2 Hadash Meir Vilner 4.6% 5 +1 Agudat Yisrael Yehuda Meir Abramowicz 3.3% 4 Flatto-Sharon Shmuel Flatto-Sharon 2.0% 1 New Shlomtzion Ariel Sharon 1.9% 2 New Left Camp of Israel Aryeh Eliav 1.6% 2 +1 United Arab List Seif el-Din el-Zoubi 1.4% 1 -2 Poalei Agudat Yisrael Kalman Kahana 1.3% 1 Ratz Shulamit Aloni 1.2% 1 -2 Independent Liberals Gideon Hausner 1.2% 1 -3 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Yitzhak Rabin Alignment (political party) Menachem Begin Likud

The Elections for the ninth Knesset were held on 17 May 1977. For the first time in Israeli political history, the right-wing, led by Likud, won a plurality in the Knesset, ending almost 30 years of rule by the left-wing Alignment and its predecessor, Mapai. The dramatic shift in Israeli politics caused by the outcome led to it becoming known as "the revolution" (Hebrew: המהפך, HaMahapakh), a phrase coined by TV anchor Haim Yavin when he announced the election results live on television with the words "Ladies and gentlemen - a revolution!" (Hebrew: !גבירותי ורבותי - מהפך, Gvirotai veRabotai - Mahapakh!). The election saw the beginning of a period lasting almost two decades where the left- and right-wing blocs held roughly equal numbers of seats in the Knesset.

Voter turnout was 79.2%.

The Alignment was re-elected in December 1973, following the Yom Kippur War, but continued in-fighting and investigation into Israel's preparedness led to the resignations of Prime Minister Golda Meir and Minister of Defense, Moshe Dayan the following April. This led to a power struggle between former Chief of Staff and Ambassador to the United States Yitzhak Rabin and Transportation minister Shimon Peres. Rabin was elected by the party by a small margin; it was felt that the Labor Party (the major faction of the Alignment) needed a candidate untouched by the disastrous war. Rabin formed a new government on 3 June 1974, and presided uneasily over a quarrelsome coalition, with Shimon Peres as Defense Minister; their bitter feud dates from this period.