2014 Israeli presidential election
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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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]| Candidate | Party | First round | Second round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
| Reuven Rivlin | Likud | 44 | 37.61 | 63 | 54.31 | |
| Meir Sheetrit | Hatnuah | 31 | 26.50 | 53 | 45.69 | |
| Dalia Itzik | Kadima | 28 | 23.93 | |||
| Dalia Dorner | Independent | 13 | 11.11 | |||
| Dan Shechtman | Independent | 1 | 0.85 | |||
| Total | 117 | 100.00 | 116 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 117 | 98.32 | 116 | 97.48 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 2 | 1.68 | 3 | 2.52 | ||
| Total votes | 119 | 100.00 | 119 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 120 | 99.17 | 120 | 99.17 | ||
| Source: Haaretz | ||||||
Only 119 votes were cast, as one member of the Knesset, Meir Porush, was abroad.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Rivlin settles with Netanyahu on 2014 presidency bid Times of Israel, 22 October 2012
- ^ Reuven Rivlin is elected Israel's 10th president Haaretz, 10 June 2014
- ^ a b c Legislators barred from campaign fundraising for Israeli presidency Haaretz, 14 November 2013
- ^ a b Israeli Public Apparently Prefers Shimon Peres Archived 2014-02-09 at the Wayback Machine Jerusalem Online, 6 January 2014
- ^ Basic Law: The President of the State Knesset
- ^ a b Uzi Landau mulling presidential run The Jerusalem Post, 12 February 2014
- ^ Endorsements make Labor's Ben-Eliezer first presidential candidate The Jerusalem Post, 17 February 2014
- ^ "Israeli MK Ben-Eliezer drops presidency bid over graft probe".
- ^ Nobel Prize winner says he's a candidate to replace Peres as president Haaretz, 18 January 2014
- ^ Meir Sheetrit gains backing of Hatnua party, needs five more signatures to make it official Times of Israel, 24 February 2014
- ^ Dalia Dorner Announces Presidential Candidacy Israel National News, 13 February 2014
- ^ ‘Captain Sunshine’ mulling presidential run The Jerusalem Post, 24 February 2014
- ^ Benari, Elad (24 January 2014). "Poll: Israelis Want Rivlin as President". Israel National News. Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ Lis, Jonathan (28 May 2014). "Poll: Rivlin is people's choice for Israel's president". Haaretz. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
