Israel Elections 2021

The 2021 legislative elections in Israel were held on March 23, 2021, in order to elect the members of the 24th Knesset. The elections were the fourth in two years and were triggered by the dissolution of the Likud-Blue and White coalition which lasted for less than a year.

A total of 39 parties registered to run in the elections, although several dropped out shortly ahead of election day itself.

The election results saw the Likud party receive 30 seats, seven less than they had held in the 23rd Knesset, followed by Yesh Atid with 17, and then Shas with nine. Meretz, Haavodah, and Ra'am, received six, seven, and four seats respectively, despite uncertainty about whether or not any of them would pass the minimum threshold.

As leader of the largest majority, Benjamin Netanyahu was charged with forming a government by then-president Reuven Rivlin. Upon his failure to do so by the deadline, the mandate was passed onto Yair Lapid as leader of the second-largest party.

Together with Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid set out to form a wide coalition encompassing parties from the left such as Meretz and Haavodah, and the right, Yamina and New Hope. Mansour Abbas' Ra'am signed a coalition agreement with Lapid on June 2, just several hours before the deadline, making Ra'am the first Arab party to sit in government.

On June 13, 2021, the thirty-sixth government of Israel was sworn in with Naftali Bennett as Prime Minister and Yair Lapid set to take over as head of government in 2023.

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Head of the left wing Meretz party Zehava Gal-On leaving after a meeting with Labor leader and Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid at Lapid's home in Tel Aviv on September 10, 2022.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attends a cabinet meeting, March 20, 2022.

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Ra'am Party leader Mansour Abbas casts his vote at a voting station in Maghar, during the Knesset Elections, on March 23, 2021.

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A man hangs a Likud election banner, depicting party leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top challenger, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapi

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Knesset Central Elections Committee Director Orly Adas counts ballots belonging to voters in quarantine, Shoham, March 2020.

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Ra'am Party leader Mansour Abbas and party members at the party headquarters in Tamra, on election night, March 23, 2021.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the 2021 elections box

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BEZALEL SMOTRICH (left) and Itamar Ben-Gvir celebrate at Religious Zionist Party headquarters in Modi’in on election night