Early legislative elections were held in Israel on 17 March 2015 to elect the 120 members of the twentieth Knesset. Disagreements within the governing coalition, particularly over the budget and a , led to the dissolution of the government in December 2014. The Labor Party and Hatnuah formed a coalition, called Zionist Union, with the hope of defeating the Likud party, which had led the previous governing coalition along with Yisrael Beiteinu, Yesh Atid, The Jewish Home, and Hatnuah.
The incumbent prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud, declared victory in the election, with Likud picking up the highest number of votes. President Reuven Rivlin granted Netanyahu an extension until 6 May 2015 to build a coalition when one had not been finalized in the first four weeks of negotiations. He formed a coalition government within two hours of the midnight 6 May deadline. His Likud party formed the coalition with the Jewish Home, United Torah Judaism, Kulanu, and Shas, with the bare minimum 61 seats. Yisrael Beiteinu later joined the coalition in May 2016.
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Background.
During late November and early December 2014, there were serious disagreements between parties in the governing coalition, particularly over the budget and a . On 2 December, Likud announced it would support a dissolution bill, with a vote scheduled for 8 December. Hours later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid from their cabinet portfolios. In the first reading of the dissolution bill on 3 December, it was approved by a vote of 84–0, with one abstention. The second and third readings were held on 8 December, with the third reading passing with a vote of 93–0.
The final election turnout was 72.3%, 4.6% higher than in the previous election and the highest since the 1999 elections, which saw a 78.7% turnout.
Initially, exit polls reported a virtual tie between the Likud and the Zionist Union, a coalition headed by Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog and former justice minister Tzipi Livni. Both Netanyahu and Herzog began attempts to build a coalition in preparation for a possible government, with Herzog calling Netanyahu's statement "premature". However, when the counting of the votes on 18 March 2015 revealed a significant lead for Likud, Herzog acknowledged that "the only realistic option" was to remain in the opposition. He stated in a 19 March 2015 post-election interview that he still hopes to be the prime minister.
Date.
During the meeting held with Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein on setting the date of the election, Likud and the Jewish Home favoured 10 March, the Labor Party requested 17 March, Shas and United Torah Judaism preferred 24 March, whilst the Arab parties requested that the elections be delayed until May. The date was ultimately set for 17 March.
Electoral system.
The 120 seats in the Knesset are elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. The electoral threshold for the 2013 elections was 2%, but on 11 March 2014, the Knesset voted to raise the threshold to 3.25%. The vote was boycotted by the opposition. In almost all cases, this is equivalent to a minimum party size of four seats, but on rare occasions, a party can end up with three.
Joint electoral lists.
Continuing their long-standing alliance, Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel ran on a joint electoral list named United Torah Judaism.
In December 2014, the Labor Party and Hatnuah agreed to form a joint electoral list named Zionist Union.
The new Yachad party and Otzma Yehudit agreed on a joint electoral list.
Following the raising of the electoral threshold, Balad, Hadash, the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, Ta'al, and the United Arab List agreed in January 2015 to form a joint electoral list named Joint List.
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:
Parliament factions.
The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 19th Knesset.
Campaign.
Likud.
Prime Minister Netanyahu called a primary for 25 December 2014; however, it was postponed until 6 January. After the election was called, the prime minister demanded a vote of the central committee to move it back up to 31 December. This was passed in a mini-referendum. The candidates were Netanyahu and former deputy defense minister Danny Danon.
Likud's internal court changed the date to 6 January 2015 after finding that the vote lacked a two-thirds majority. A panel of Likud judges accepted Netanyahu's appeal and allowed the vote to occur on 31 December 2014.
The controversy over the timing of the primaries led to an internal investigation resulting in a report by party comptroller Shay Galilee that claimed Netanyahu had misused party employees. Galilee subsequently invited Netanyahu to a pre-disqualification hearing, which resulted in Netanyahu being prevented from running in the primaries. The prime minister immediately appealed to the Likud internal court. Menachem Ne’eman, the chairman of the Likud election committee, has claimed that Galilee acted outside his authority and that his decision is invalid. Netanyahu's attorney and his primary campaign have contested the disqualification. Netanyahu was allowed to run.
Primary results and aftermath.
The primary results were widely seen as a victory for Netanyahu and the more moderate faction within Likud, as opposed to the far-right fringe. Moshe Feiglin, who for a long time led his own far-rightist faction within Likud and once challenged Netanyahu for the chairmanship, suffered a major defeat in the primary, failing to win a realistic spot on the ticket. In response, he left Likud and announced plans to form a new party. Feiglin said his new party, which may be called the Jewish State Party, will not run in the 2015 election, but will run in the next election after that.
Platform.
The major foreign policy focus of Benjamin Netanyahu during this campaign has been to "prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear capability, by turning world opinion in favor of maintaining and expanding economic and diplomatic sanctions against Tehran". Netanyahu reiterated his positions on Iran to a joint session of the United States Congress. In the Middle East peace process, "Netanyahu has spoken out against further withdrawals from land, further releases of terrorists from prisons, or dividing Jerusalem in any way". Additionally, Netanyahu and other Likud members suggested that positions that he had made in his famous Bar Ilan speech were now null and void. He reiterated this position on the last day of the campaign, telling Makor Rishon that "If I'm elected, there will be no Palestinian State".
Domestically, Likud "calls for a "free-market economy with social sensitivity", suggesting that in order "to remain competitive in a global market, there is a need for budgetary discipline, lowering taxes, an effectively managed stock market, and growth of the private sector". The party has also pledged to "implement State Comptroller Joseph Shapira's recommendations for ending the housing crisis and improve benefits for the self-employed".
On election day, Netanyahu made a public statement, claiming:
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;The right-wing government is in danger. Arab voters are going in droves to the polls. Left-wing organizations are bringing them on buses. We only have you, Go to the polls, bring your friends and family, vote Likud, to close the gap between us and Labor Zionist Union. With your help and God's help, we will form a nationalist government that will protect the State of Israel.
It has been argued that this statement had implications on the Likud victory in the election. Following the elections, Netanyahu said he regretted the message.
The president of the United States, Barack Obama, criticized that statement.
Zionist Union (Labor and Hatnuah).
The Labor Party held its primaries on 13 January 2015, in which Isaac Herzog won against Shelly Yachimovich.
The Labor Party and Hatnuah agreed on 10 December 2014 to form a joint ticket. Hatnuah head Tzipi Livni has said that other parties will also be part of the alliance. Herzog and Livni initially said that if they won enough votes to form the next government, they would take turns in the role of prime minister, with Herzog serving for the first two years and Livni for the second two, in a compromise known as rotation, though Livni announced on 16 March 2015 that only Herzog would serve as prime minister.
Aluf (Major General, res.) Amos Yadlin was the party's candidate for Ministry of Defence, though he did not run in the election itself.
The alliance was expanded further when Livni selected Yael Cohen Paran, a co-chair of the Green Movement, Major General (res.) Eyal Ben-Reuven, and Yoel Hasson for Hatnuah's reserved slots on the Zionist Union list.
The slate was endorsed by former prime minister Ehud Barak, former prime minister and president Shimon Peres, former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, head of Israel's wealthiest family Stef Wertheimer, columnist Ari Shavit, the daily "Haaretz", and "The Economist".
Platform.
Maintaining its position firmly within the Israeli peace camp, the party pledged to "reignite a process with our Palestinian neighbors based on a regional platform, and foster our unique and special relationship with Washington", but did not specify in greater detail the concessions that would be made by a Zionist Union government, other than saying that the Jordan Valley must be Israel's eastern security border. The party also pledged "to rescue Israel from its international isolation [by] restor[ing] relations with the US and Europe, and unit[ing] the world in its war against terrorism and aggression".
Much of the party's policy has been focused on economic issues facing Israelis, due in large part to members of the 2011 Israeli social justice protests currently on the party's slate of candidates. The party has pledged "support for 300,000 available apartments, released to the market at the rate of 50,000–60,000 per year, and subsidizing land value in housing, while providing an opportunity for partial ownership through rent payments. The party also plans to "lower the costs of healthcare, education, and basic goods for every family in Israel, allocating NIS 2 billion to create a basic aid package for senior citizens in need and launch a national savings program for children".
Joint List.
Following the raising of the electoral threshold, Balad, Hadash, the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, Ta'al, and the United Arab List agreed on 22 January 2015 to run on the same list in the election, the first time the major Arab parties had all run on a single list. One poll suggested that the formation of the alliance, later named the Joint List, could increase turnout amongst Arab voters to 56%, 10% higher than in the 2013 elections. However, the more hard-line northern branch of the Islamic Movement opted to boycott the elections, alongside the Abnaa el-Balad ("Sons of the Village") movement.
Platform.
Despite the official positions of anti-Zionism of some of the List's parties, the party's platform on the Middle East peace process tries to stake a moderate position. The Joint List's policy on the peace process "calls for a just peace based on UN resolutions, ending the occupation of all land Israel captured in 1967, dismantling all settlements and the security barrier, releasing all "political prisoners", and forming a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital". Additionally, the party "calls for a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, which guarantees a right of return and self-rule for Israeli-Arab citizens on educational, cultural and religious issues". On other foreign policy matters, the party "supports a nuclear-free Israel and Middle East".
Due to the fact that the party is primarily concerned with the interests of Israeli Arabs, the party "calls for full equality in state budgeting for Jewish and Arab municipalities and institutions, as well as affirmative action to help the poor – who are disproportionately Arab". Additionally, the party wants to raise the minimum wage to 60% of the average salary.
Yesh Atid.
Hailed as the kingmakers in the 2013 elections, Yesh Atid and its leader Yair Lapid have seen their popularity cut in half since joining the government. Elected on a "promise to lower the cost of living and improve the middle class's quality of life, Lapid implemented