Country: Israel Official Name: State of Israel Election Type: Parliamentary Date: January 28, 2003 Source for election date

At stake in this election:

• 120 seats in the Knesset

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Moshe KATZAV *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Ariel SHARON
  
• Assembly: Israel has a unicameral Knesset with 120 seats.

* The president in Israel is largely a ceremonial role and is elected by the Knesset.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by parliament to serve a 7-year term.
• The Prime Minister is designated by the president to serve a 4-year term.**
• In the Knesset 120 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.***

** After parliamentary elections, the president will usually select a prime minister that he/she feels has the best possibility of forming a new government.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Likud Party
  Leader: Ariel SHARON
  Seats won in this election: 38
  Seats won in last election: 19
• Party: Labor Party**
  Leader: Amram MITZNA
  Seats won in this election: 19
  Seats won in last election: 25
• Party: Shinui Party
  Leader: Tommy LAPID
  Seats won in this election: 15
  Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Shas
  Leader: Eliyahu YISHAI
  Seats won in this election: 11
  Seats won in last election: 17
• Party: National Union
  Leader: Benyamin ELON
  Seats won in this election: 7
  Seats won in last election: 3
• Party: Meretz
  Leader: Yossi SARID
  Seats won in this election: 6
  Seats won in last election: 10
• Party: National Religious Party
  Leader: Yitzhak LEVY
  Seats won in this election: 6
  Seats won in last election: 5
• Party: United Torah Judaism
  Leader: Meir PORUSH
  Seats won in this election: 5
  Seats won in last election: 5
• Party: Hadash
  Leader: Muhammad BARAKA
  Seats won in this election: 3
  Seats won in last election: 3
• Party: Am Ehad
  Leader: Amir PERETZ
  Seats won in this election: 3
  Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: National Democratic Assembly (Balad)
  Leader: Azmi BISHARA
  Seats won in this election: 3
  Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Yisrael Ba’aliyah
  Leader: Natan SHARANSKY
  Seats won in this election: 2
  Seats won in last election: 4
• Party: United Arab List
  Leader: Abd al-Malik DAHAMSHAH
  Seats won in this election: 2
  Seats won in last election: 5
• Party: Others
  Leader: N/A
  Seats won in this election: N/A
  Seats won in last election: N/A

** In the 1999 election, the Labor Party formed a coalition called ‘One Israel’ with other political groups. In the 2003 election, the Labor Party ran independently.

Last Parliamentary election:

• The last parliamentary election was held on May 17, 1999.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 6,029,529 (July 2002 This estimate includes Israeli settlers in the West Bank, settlers in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.)
• Registered Voters: 4,720,075 ( 2003 )

Last Updated on 07/26/2010

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