Constituent Assembly elections were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p123 Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset (Hebrew: כנסת, translated as Assembly). It is known today as the First Knesset.
Background
During the establishment of the state of Israel in May 1948, Israel's national institutions were established, which ruled the new state. These bodies were not elected bodies in the pure sense, and their members originated from the management of the Jewish agency and from the management of the Jewish National Council.
The Israeli Declaration of Independence stated that:
However, the elections were not held before the designated date due to the ongoing war and were cancelled twice, while no constitution was ever adopted. The elections were eventually held on 25 January 1949.
Preparations for the elections These were the first nationwide elections held in Israel and required the creation of an electoral register. A population census was conducted on 8 November 1948, partly to establish the electoral register and issue residents with identification documents. A seven-hour curfew was imposed so that enumerators could record residents at their homes.
On 5 November 1948 the Provisional State Council determined that the Constituent Assembly would have 120 members. The election used nationwide proportional representation, based on the system previously used for elections to the Assembly of Representatives of the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine. No statutory electoral threshold applied, although the method used to allocate the 120 seats produced a natural threshold of approximately 0.83 per cent of the valid vote.
Approximately 1,000 polling stations were used.
Contesting parties A total of 21 parties registered to contest the elections.
Party or allianceHead of listBallot letterDemocratic List of NazarethSeif el-Din el-ZoubiFighters' ListNathan Yellin-MorFor Jerusalem ListDaniel AusterGeneral ZionistsIsrael RokachHerutMenachem BeginJabotinsky Movement – Brit HatzoharAryeh AltmanMakiShmuel MikunisMapaiDavid Ben GurionMapamYitzhak TabenkinProgressive PartyPinchas RosenPopular Arab BlocGeorge NasserSephardim and Oriental CommunitiesBechor-Shalom SheetritTraditional Judaism ListMordechai BoxbaumHaredi ListEliyahu KitovUnited List of Religious WorkersYeshayahu LeibowitzUnited Religious FrontHaim Moshe ShapiraWIZORachel Cohen-KaganWorkers Bloc'Abd al-Rahman al-HusseiniWorking and Religious WomenTova SanhadrayYemenite AssociationZecharia GloscaYitzhak Gruenbaum ListYitzhak Gruenbaum
Results
Aftermath On 19 May 1948, the Provisional Assembly confirmed Hebrew and Arabic as the official languages of Israel, removing English as an official language. The Constituent Assembly convened in February 1949.
During the Knesset term Eliezer Preminger left Maki and re-established the Hebrew Communists before joining Mapam, while Ari Jabotinsky and Hillel Kook, both associated with the Bergson Group in the United States, broke away from Herut; they were not recognised as a separate party by the speaker.
First government
The first government was formed on 8 March 1949 with David Ben-Gurion as Prime Minister. His Mapai party formed a coalition with the United Religious Front, the Progressive Party, the Sephardim and Oriental Communities and the Democratic List of Nazareth, and there were 12 ministers. Yosef Sprinzak of Mapai was appointed as the speaker.
On 16 February 1949, the First Knesset elected Chaim Weizmann as the first (largely ceremonial) President of Israel. It also passed an educational law in 1949 which introduced compulsory schooling for all children between the ages of 5 and 14.The Challenge Of Israel by Misha Louvish. Publisher: Jerusalem Israel Univ Press; 1st Edition (1968). ASIN B000OKO5U2. On 5 July 1950, it passed the Law of Return.
The trend of political instability in Israel was started when Ben-Gurion resigned on 15 October 1950 over disagreements with the United Religious Front on education in the new immigrant camps and the religious education system, as well as demands that the Supply and Rationing Ministry be closed and a businessman appointed as Minister for Trade and Industry.
Second government
Ben-Gurion formed a second government on 1 November 1950 with the same coalition partners as previously, though there was a slight reshuffle in his cabinet; David Remez moved from the Transportation ministry to Education, replacing Zalman Shazar (who was left out of the new cabinet), whilst Dov Yosef replaced Remez as Minister of Transportation. Ya'akov Geri was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry despite not being a Member of the Knesset. There was also a new Deputy Minister in the Transportation ministry.
The door was opened for the elections for the second knesset when the government resigned on 14 February 1951 after the Knesset had rejected the Minister of Education and Culture's proposals on the registration of schoolchildren.
See also List of members of the first Knesset
References
External links Historical overview of the First Knesset Knesset website Factional and Government Make-Up of the First Knesset Knesset website