1988 Israeli legislative election

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 11th Knesset. ==Campaign==

On 8 October 1988, the Alignment leader Shimon Peres visited the Likud stronghold Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem. There, he was greeted by a mob of angry protesters, who called him "Peres Arafat", a "traitor", and a "maniac", and threw buckets of cold water at him, forcing dozens of police officers being called to guide Peres away from the demonstrators. On the same day, Ratz's Yossi Sarid unsuccessfully testified to the Central Elections Committee to block the ultranationalist pro-transfer Moledet party from running, while the Progressive leader Muhammad Miari demanded to disqualify Moledet, Tehiya and Tzomet. This came as the Justice Minister Avraham Sharir (Likud) tried to get Miari arrested for meeting with Yasser Arafat. When Ratz signed a surplus vote agreement with the Alignment, Mapam accused Ratz of wanting to "remove Mapam from the political scene", to which Ratz leader Shulamit Aloni responded by saying that "Mapam's panic is understandable. It is a spoiled party, rich in assets and jobs, which fears any young, fresh organization without vested economic interests that comes to fight with clean hands." She also highlighted the inevitability of the two parties becoming allies, comparing Mapam to the biblical character Saul throwing his spear at David. Further to the left, there was outright hostility between the Progressive List for Peace and Hadash, resulting in physical altercations between their activists. The PLP criticised Ratz for giving its 'unconditional' support to Shimon Peres's bid to become prime minister, while ignoring the fact that Peres was set to appoint Yitzhak Rabin, who the PLP called 'a minister of blood and gore', as Defense Minister. The PLP criticised Ratz, Hadash, Mapam and Shinui for not assembling a coherent singular force for peace in the Knesset. The PLP also stated they would not support a Peres-led government if it was not up to their standards. The Jericho bus firebombing, which killed an Israeli mother and her three children, galvanised voters to force a last-minute swing to the right, just when the Alignment was gaining on the Likud in polls. Party slogans Debates Surplus-vote agreements Two parties could make an agreement so that they were considered to be running on a joint list when leftover seats were distributed. The Bader–Ofer method favors larger lists, meaning that a joint list is more likely to receive leftover seats than each list would individually. If such a joint list were to receive a leftover seat, the Bader–Ofer method would be applied a second time to determine which of the parties that make up the joint list would receive it. The following agreements were signed by parties prior to the election: • Alignment-Ratz • Shas-Degel HaTorah • Mapam-Shinui • Likud-Tehiya • The Movement for a Just Society - Yemenite Association in Israel == Opinion polls ==

The Israel Broadcasting Authority separated the parties into two blocs: • Left-wing: • Jewish: Alignment, Ratz, Mapam, Shinui, Meimad • Arab: Hadash, PLP, Mada • Right-wing: • Secular: Likud, Tehiya, Tzomet, Moledet. Hadashot also included Kach in this grouping. • Religious: Agudat Yisrael, Shas, Degel HaTorah, Mafdal, Morasha (dropped out in August 1988). Ometz dissolved into Likud, and Yahad ran as part of the Alignment. Ma'ariv polled Morasha together with Mafdal. Seat projections Note: Political blocs do not necessarily determine the exact makeup of post-election coalitions. Hadashot published polls in percentages, which have been approximated into seat totals through the D'Hondt method, assuming surplus-vote agreements stay the same when possible. Some polls gave certain seat totals as a range of numbers, for which the average has been given. == Results ==

Political observers noted that if Hadash and the Progressive List for Peace had made a surplus vote agreement, the latter would have won a surplus seat, which was ultimately won by the Shas-Degel surplus agreement. ==Aftermath==

Likud's Yitzhak Shamir formed the twenty-third government on 22 December 1988, including the Alignment, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah in his coalition, with 25 ministers. In 1990 Shimon Peres tried to form an Alignment-led coalition in a move that became known as "the dirty trick", but failed to win sufficient support. Eventually Shamir formed the twenty-fourth government on 11 June 1990, with a coalition encompassing Likud, the National Religious Party, Shas, Agudat Yisrael, Degel HaTorah, the New Liberal Party, Tehiya, Tzomet, Moledet, Unity for Peace and Immigration and Geulat Yisrael. Tehiya, Tzomet and Moledet all left the coalition in late 1991/early 1992 in protest at Shamir's participation in the Madrid Conference. Several defections occurred during the Knesset term; five members of Likud left to form the Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea. After two of them returned, the party was renamed the New Liberal Party. Yitzhak Peretz left Shas and established Moria. Eliezer Mizrahi left Agudat Yisrael and established Geulat Yisrael. Efraim Gur left the Alignment to establish Unity for Peace and Immigration, which later merged into Likud. The Twelfth Knesset saw the rise of the ultra-orthodox religious parties as a significant force in Israeli politics, and as a crucial "swing" element which could determine which of the large two secular parties (Likud, Alignment) would get to form the coalition government. Ratz, Mapam, and Shinui merged into Meretz, while Black Panthers broke away from Hadash. ==Notes==