# 1988 Israeli legislative election

Elections for the 12th Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1988. Voter turnout was 79.7%.

## Parliament factions

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 11th Knesset.
| Name | Name | Ideology | Symbol | Leader | 1984 result | 1984 result | Seats at 1988 dissolution |
| Name | Name | Ideology | Symbol | Leader | Votes (%) | Seats | Seats at 1988 dissolution |
| | Alignment | Social democracy Labor Zionism | אמת‎ | Shimon Peres | 34.9% | 38 / 120 | 38 / 120 |
| | Mapam | Labor Zionism Socialism | מפם‎ | Yair Tzaban | 34.9% | 6 / 120 | 5 / 120 |
| | Likud | National liberalism | מחל‎ | Yitzhak Shamir | 31.9% | 41 / 120 | 43 / 120 |
| | Tehiya | Ultranationalism Revisionist Zionism | ת‎ | Yuval Ne'eman Rafael Eitan | 4.0% | 5 / 120 | 4 / 120 |
| | Mafdal | Religious Zionism | ב‎ | Yosef Burg | 3.5% | 4 / 120 | 5 / 120 |
| | Hadash | Communism Socialism | ו‎ | Meir Vilner | 3.4% | 4 / 120 | 5 / 120 |
| | Shas | Religious conservatism Populism | שס‎ | Yitzhak Peretz | 3.1% | 4 / 120 | 3 / 120 |
| | Shinui | Liberalism Centrism | הן‎ | Amnon Rubinstein | 2.7% | 3 / 120 | 4 / 120 |
| | Ratz | Social democracy Secularism | רצ‎ | Shulamit Aloni | 2.4% | 3 / 120 | 4 / 120 |
| | Yahad | Centrism | ט‎ | Ezer Weizman | 2.2% | 3 / 120 | 0 / 120 |
| | PLFP | Pro-peace | פ‎ | Mohammed Miari | 1.8% | 2 / 120 | 2 / 120 |
| | Agudat Yisrael | Religious conservatism | ג‎ | Avraham Yosef Shapira | 1.7% | 2 / 120 | 2 / 120 |
| | Morasha | Religious conservatism Social Conservatism | עד‎ | Haim Drukman | 1.6% | 2 / 120 | 1 / 120 |
| | Tzomet | Agrarianism Zionism | ץ‎ | Rafael Eitan | - | 0 / 120 | 1 / 120 |
| | Tami | Religious Zionism Economic egalitarianism | ני‎ | Aharon Abuhatzira | 1.5% | 1 / 120 | 0 / 120 |
| | Kach | Religious Zionism Kahanism | כך‎ | Meir Kahane | 1.2% | 1 / 120 | 1 / 120 |
| | Ometz | National liberalism | יש‎ | Yigal Hurvitz | 1.2% | 1 / 120 | 0 / 120 |
| | Mada | Israeli Arab Interests | ע‎ | Abdulwahab Darawshe | - | 0 / 120 | 1 / 120 |
| | Independent | - | - | - | - | 0 / 120 | 1 / 120 |

## Debates

| Date | Organizer | Moderator | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee | P Present  I Invitee N Non-invitee |
| Date | Organizer | Moderator | Likud | Alignment | Refs |
| | | | P Yitzhak Shamir | P Shimon Peres | |

## Results

| | Likud | 709,305 | 31.07 | 40 | −1 |
| | Alignment | 685,363 | 30.02 | 39 | −5 |
| | Shas | 107,709 | 4.72 | 6 | +2 |
| | Agudat Yisrael | 102,714 | 4.50 | 5 | +3 |
| | Ratz | 97,513 | 4.27 | 5 | +2 |
| | National Religious Party | 89,720 | 3.93 | 5 | +1 |
| | Hadash | 84,032 | 3.68 | 4 | 0 |
| | Tehiya | 70,730 | 3.10 | 3 | −2 |
| | Mapam | 56,345 | 2.47 | 3 | New |
| | Tzomet | 45,489 | 1.99 | 2 | New |
| | Moledet | 44,174 | 1.93 | 2 | New |
| | Shinui | 39,538 | 1.73 | 2 | −1 |
| | Degel HaTorah | 34,279 | 1.50 | 2 | New |
| | Progressive List for Peace | 33,695 | 1.48 | 1 | −1 |
| | Arab Democratic Party | 27,012 | 1.18 | 1 | New |
| | Pensioners | 16,674 | 0.73 | 0 | New |
| | Meimad | 15,783 | 0.69 | 0 | New |
| | Derekh Aretz | 4,253 | 0.19 | 0 | New |
| | Or Movement | 4,182 | 0.18 | 0 | New |
| | Movement for Social Justice | 3,222 | 0.14 | 0 | New |
| | Yishai – Tribal Israel Together | 2,947 | 0.13 | 0 | New |
| | Movement for Moshavim | 2,838 | 0.12 | 0 | New |
| | Tarshish | 1,654 | 0.07 | 0 | New |
| | Silent Power | 1,579 | 0.07 | 0 | New |
| | Movement for Demobilised Soldiers | 1,018 | 0.04 | 0 | New |
| | Yemenite Association | 909 | 0.04 | 0 | New |
| | Unity | 446 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 2,283,123 | 100.00 | 120 | 0 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 2,283,123 | 99.03 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 22,444 | 0.97 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 2,305,567 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 2,894,267 | 79.66 | | |
| Source: IDI, Nohlen et al. ||||||

## 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.