Knesset

The Royal Knesset of the Kingdom of Yisrael ההכנסה המלכותית של ממלכת ישראל
Type
Type	Unicameral Legislature
Leadership
President	Yitzchok Katz (RC)
Leader of the Knesset	Binyamin Goldschmidt (RC) since January 11th, 2016
Structure
Seats	142
Political groups	HRM Government (85)   Royalist Conservative Party: 64 seats   Torah Achdus: 19 seats   League for New Judea: 2 seats HRM Opposition (42)   Alternative for Yisrael: 25 seats   Action Yisrael: 17 seats Other Opposition (15)   Constitutional Liberal Party: 14 seats   Alliance of Greens, Seculars, and Workers: 1 seat
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post voting
Last election	January 17, 2018
Meeting place
Dervaylik, Yisrael

The Royal Knesset of Yisrael is the unicameral national legislature of the Kingdom of Yisrael. It is the legislative branch of the Kingdom and its territories. It currently has 142 members, who are elected directly by citizens who are registered voters on the 1st of Shevat on even years of the global secular calendar.

The Knesset is charged with lawmaking, declaring war or authorizing military force, the power of the purse, creating or eliminating public services, the oversight, investigation, and impeachment of sitting government officials, ratifying treaties, and providing the advise and consent for presidential appointments.

Legislation may be introduced by an individual Member of Knesset (MK) or groups of MKs. Per its parliamentary model, it elects the Leader of the Knesset from its largest or governing party after each election. The Knesset must have an election every two years. Every four years, the presidential election is run concurrently alongside the Knesset's.

The Knesset is widely-known for its unruly, polarized political atmosphere and unstable deal-making.

Parliamentary composition since 2004

Main article: Party divisions of the Yisraeli Knesset

Knesset	Years		Knesset										President	Governing Majority Party	Margin of Majority Control
			RCP	CLP	TA	AY	AfY1	AGSW	LNJ	Ind.	Vacan cies
49th	2020-2022		64	14	19	17	25	1	2	0	0		Yitzchok Katz	Blue-Silver-Maroon coalition	+43 (to UCB's 42 seats)/ +28 (to all minority parties)
48th	2018-2020		59	42-321	16	12	0-101	8	5	0	0		Noah Feldman	Blue-Gray-Maroon coalition	+4/ +20 (with supply and confidence from Torah Achdus)

Knesset	Years		Knesset									President	Governing Majority Party	Margin of Majority Control
			RCP	CLP	TA	AY	AGSW	LNJ	Ind.	Vacan cies
47th	2016-2018		64	39	18	7	3	11	0	2		Noah Feldman	Blue-Maroon coalition	+32
46th	2014-2016		41	66	15	9	6	2	3	1			Gold-Gray-Green-White coalition	+5
45th	2012-2014		64	48	16	5	43	3	2	2			Blue-Silver coalition	+8

Knesset	Years		Knesset											President	Governing Majority Party	Margin of Majority Control
			RCP	CLP	TA	AY4	GP	YLP	LNJ	YCA5	Ind.	Vacan cies
44th	2010-2012		58	51	16	3	2	2	5	3	2	46		Eitan Herzog	Blue-Silver coalition	+2

Knesset	Years		Knesset										President	Governing Majority Party	Margin of Majority Control
			RCP	CLP	TA	GP	YLP	LNJ	YCA	Ind.	Vacan cies
43rd	2008-2010		52	60	13	5	3	2	3	4	0		Eitan Herzog	Gold-Green-Pink-White coalition	+1
42nd	2006-2008		577	577	14	3	2	08	4	5	0			Gold-Green-Pink-White coalition	+17

Knesset	Years		Knesset										President	Governing Majority Party	Margin of Majority Control
			RCP	CLP	TA	GP	YLP	NUP	YCA	Ind.	Vacan cies
41st	2004-2006		46-4510	66-6710	12	5	4	29	3	3	3		Eitan Herzog	Gold-Green-Pink coalition	+4/+510

Footnotes
1. The Alternative for Yisrael split off from the Constitutional Liberal Party on November 7, 2019, at the end of the 48th term of Knesset and about two months from the 2020 general elections. 10 sitting Con-Lib MKs defected to the new party.
2. Torah Achdus neither sat in the opposition nor had a supply and confidence agreement with the ruling Conservatives.
3. The smaller Green Party and Yisraeli Labor Party merged together on February 8th, 2012, three weeks after the 2012 elections, combining their 4 seats (3 Greens, 1 Labor Party).
4. The Action Yisrael party was formed on May 24th, 2009, in advance of the 2010 elections.
5. The YCA was found to have illegal ties to anti-Yisrael terrorist groups the Christian Defense League and the Free Yarden Valley Catholic Front in the aftermath of the 2011 Yericho riots. Its MKs were arrested by the YeMep and the party banned under the Domestic Subversive Organizations Act before the 2012 elections.
6. None of the vacancies resulted in a change of partisan affiliation. All the seats were filled by persons of the same party.
7. Vice-President Joshua Lieberman would often be required to stay on premises for Knesset votes to cast the deciding vote due to the evenly-split Knesset between HRM Government led by the Con-Lib-Green-Labor-YCA-Indep. coalition (71) and HRM Opposition of the Conservatives and their allies the Torah Achdus party (71).
8. The Northern League, although in existence since 1974, had no won any seats since the 1980s. The party had a leadership election in February 14th, 2006, and elected David Touro as party chairman. Touro rebranded the party as "far right lite" and moderated the more extreme stances of the party as well as recruited credible right-wing activists and buildt needed campaign infrastructure in the Yarden River Valley and ethnic Tarsan Jewish areas to field successful candidates for the next election cycle.
9. The right-wing National Union merged with the Royalist Conservatives several months before the 2006 elections.
10. Avigdor Korvo, an MK from Ashkelon, party-switched several days after the election from Conservative to Con-Lib and was given a prominent role on the Knesset Appropriations Committee.

See also

• Political parties in Yisrael
• Politics of Yisrael
• Party strength in Yisrael