2014 Israeli presidential election

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2014 Israeli presidential election
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  Reuven Rivlin as the president of Israel (cropped).jpg Meir Sheetrit D938-003 (cropped).jpg
Nominee Reuven Rivlin Meir Sheetrit
Party Likud Hatnuah
Electoral vote 63 53
Percentage 54.3% 45.6%
President before election

Shimon Peres
Kadima

Elected President

Reuven Rivlin
Likud

Indirect presidential elections were held in Israel on 10 June 2014.[1] The result was a victory for Reuven Rivlin of the Likud party. Rivlin was sworn in as President of Israel on 24 July.[2]

Background[]

In November 2013, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein ruled that candidates for the office of President would be barred from raising funds to finance their campaigns.[3]

In January 2014, incumbent President Shimon Peres announced that he would not run for a second term, despite an opinion poll showing 63% of Israelis would prefer him to remain in office.[4] A second term would require change in legislation, as the Basic Law on the presidency permits only one term,[5] following reforms made after the 1998 presidential election to prevent an incumbent being challenged for the presidency.

Candidates[]

In 2012, an agreement was made between Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Rivlin would be the party's candidate for the election if Likud won the 2013 Knesset election.[1] Likud subsequently emerged with a parliamentary plurality. However, in February 2014 The Jerusalem Post reported that both Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman, a major power in the Likud party, had a poor relationship with Rivlin and had not ruled out backing another candidate.[6]

In February 2014, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer of the Labor Party became the first candidate to receive the required 10 nominations from Knesset members.[7] Four days before the election, Ben-Eliezer was investigated by the police on corruption charges and subsequently withdrew from the race.[8]

Other candidates included Nobel Prize laureate Dan Shechtman,[9] Meir Sheetrit of Hatnuah,[10] Dalia Itzik of Kadima,[3] and former Supreme Court judge Dalia Dorner.[11] Potential candidates who expressed an interest in running but did not receive the written support from ten members of the Knesset needed for nomination included Uzi Landau of Yisrael Beiteinu,[6] Silvan Shalom of Likud, and businessman Yosef Abramowitz.[12]

Opinion polls[]

Although the public were not able to vote in the election, opinion polls were conducted to determine public support for the candidates.

Pollster Date Reuven Rivlin Dan Shechtman Binyamin Ben-Eliezer Dalia Itzik Dalia Dorner Meir Sheetrit Natan Sharansky Silvan Shalom
Channel 2[4] 6 January 2014 27% – 16% 5% – – 9% 13%
Knesset Channel Panels[13] 23 January 2014 28% 25% 6% 2% – – 7% 6%
Haaretz[14] 27 May 2014 31% 22% 10% 4% 11% 4% – –

Results[]

Candidate Party First round Second round
Votes % Votes %
Reuven Rivlin Likud 44 37.6 63 54.3
Meir Sheetrit Hatnuah 31 26.5 53 45.7
Dalia Itzik Kadima 28 23.9
Dalia Dorner Independent 13 11.1
Dan Shechtman Independent 1 0.9
Invalid ballots/blank votes 2 – 3 –
Total 119 100 119 100
Registered voters/turnout 120 99.2 120 99.2
Source: Haaretz

Only 119 votes were cast, as one member of the Knesset, Meir Porush, was abroad.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Rivlin settles with Netanyahu on 2014 presidency bid Times of Israel, 22 October 2012
  2. ^ Reuven Rivlin is elected Israel's 10th president Haaretz, 10 June 2014
  3. ^ a b c Legislators barred from campaign fundraising for Israeli presidency Haaretz, 14 November 2013
  4. ^ a b Israeli Public Apparently Prefers Shimon Peres Archived 2014-02-09 at the Wayback Machine Jerusalem Online, 6 January 2014
  5. ^ Basic Law: The President of the State Knesset
  6. ^ a b Uzi Landau mulling presidential run The Jerusalem Post, 12 February 2014
  7. ^ Endorsements make Labor's Ben-Eliezer first presidential candidate The Jerusalem Post, 17 February 2014
  8. ^ "Israeli MK Ben-Eliezer drops presidency bid over graft probe".
  9. ^ Nobel Prize winner says he's a candidate to replace Peres as president Haaretz, 18 January 2014
  10. ^ Meir Sheetrit gains backing of Hatnua party, needs five more signatures to make it official Times of Israel, 24 February 2014
  11. ^ Dalia Dorner Announces Presidential Candidacy Israel National News, 13 February 2014
  12. ^ ‘Captain Sunshine’ mulling presidential run The Jerusalem Post, 24 February 2014
  13. ^ Benari, Elad (24 January 2014). "Poll: Israelis Want Rivlin as President". Israel National News. Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  14. ^ Lis, Jonathan (28 May 2014). "Poll: Rivlin is people's choice for Israel's president". Haaretz. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
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