WATCH: Israel’s first elections — ‘a pretty noisy affair’
In January 1949, the new democracy is in a frenzy as candidates canvass for the legislative elections
In this newsreel, printing presses churn out posters, candidates gesticulate wildly, and Israel history is made in the days leading up to the country’s first elections on January 25, 1949.
According to the announcer, “All Israel residents could vote, regardless of religion — as long as they were over 21 and had been in the country since before November.”
A few things have changed since then. In 1949, parties vied for seats in what was called Israel’s Constituent Assembly (the name “Knesset” was introduced later in the month). And the electorate at the time was under half a million — a far cry from today’s 5.8 million.
Other things are as they were. “The campaign is reported as being a pretty noisy affair,” the narrator admits, “but that was quite natural on such an exciting occasion.”
(The Associated Press and Movietone News recently released their vast video archives on YouTube, allowing the public to freely access a million minutes worth of historical news clips dating back to 1895 — including many iconic scenes from Israel’s history featured in this Times of Israel series.)
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