Israeli Electoral History: Barak Calls for Early Elections

Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced November 28, 2000, that he agreed to early elections. The largest parties in the Knesset agreed on May 22, 2001, as the the date for the election.

Barak's announcement came as support for his leadership eroded in the Knesset. Sixty-one members are needed to dissolve the Knesset and call for early elections and as many as 78 had expressed the intention of voting to do so. The effort to bring down the government was sponsored by the opposition Likud Party, but gained widespread support from even traditional allies of Barak's Labor Party such as members of the Arab parties.

Source: Jerusalem Post, (November 28, 2000).