Chamber:
	Knesset
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	1 November 1988
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	Primary contenders in the 1988 Knesset elections were once more the right-wing Likud bloc and the centre-left Alignment group, headed by the Labour Party and its leader, Mr. Shimon Peres. Likud was led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who by agreement had taken over this post from Mr. Peres mid-way through the 1984-1988 parliamentary term. The two-month election campaign focused on the issue of the ways and means of achieving a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. In this connection, the Likud promoted the autonomy plan of the 1979 Camp David accords and opposed any contact with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), while the Alignment favoured an international Middle East peace conference and stated its willingness to trade "land for peace" in the Israeli-occupied Arab territories. On polling day, 15 of the 27 party lists in contention – which had nominated some 1,900 candidates – passed the Knesset qualifying threshold of 1%. The voting result left both major parties virtually even. Once again neither could form a Cabinet with the splinter parties, including the strengthened religious groups. Therefore, after lengthy deliberations, a national unity Government was set up for the second consecutive term. Only this time, with no rotation of the premiership, Mr. Shamir is to serve the full four-year term in office. Mr. Peres is Deputy Prime Minister in the new Cabinet announced in December.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (1 November 1988): Elections results
Number of registered electors	2,894,267
Voters	2,305,569 (79.66%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	22,444
Valid votes	2,283,125

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Candidates	Votes	%
Likud	120	709,305	31.1
Alignment	118	685,365	30.0
Shas	94	107,709	4.7
Agudat Israel	99	102,714	4.5
Civil Rights and Peace Movement	118	97,513	4.3
National Religious Party	115	89,720	3.9
Democratic Front Communist Party	119	84,032	3.7
Hatehiya	119	70,730	3.1
Mapam	118	56,345	2.6
Zomet	118	45,489	2.0
Moledet	59	44,174	1.9
Shinui	116	39,538	1.7
Degel Hatora	74	34,279	1.5
Progressive Movement for Peace	120	33,695	1.5
Democratic Arabic Party	118	27,012	1.2

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total	Gain/Loss
Likud	40	-1
Alignment	39	-5
Shas	6	+2
Agudat Israel	5	+3
Civil Rights and Peace Movement	5	+2
National Religious Party	5	+1
Democratic Front Communist Party	4	+2
Hatehiya	3	-2
Mapam	3	+3
Zomet	2	-3
Moledet	2	+2
Shinui	2	-1
Degel Hatora	2	+2
Progressive Movement for Peace	1	-1
Democratic Arabic Party	1	+1

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	113
Women:	7

Distribution of seats according to age:
30-39 years	7
40-49 years	40
50-59 years	38
60-69 years	30
70 and over	5
Distribution of seats according to profession:
Legal	23
Pedagogy	19
Social sciences	16
Rabbis (certificated)	14
Agriculture	13
Civil servants	7
Businessmen	7
Humanities	6
Journalism	5
Engineering	5
Military	4
Geology	1