September 13, 1984
Shimon Peres becomes Israel’s eighth prime minister as he forms a coalition government composed of the Alignment (the core of which is the Labor Party), Likud, the National Religious Party, Agudat Yisrael, Shas, Morasha, Shinui and Ometz.
Elections were held in late July 1984 with Peres’ Alignment receiving the most votes (724,074, good for 44 seats in Knesset) and Likud, led by Yitzhak Shamir, receiving the second most votes (661,302, worth 41 seats in the Knesset). The election had a voter participation of nearly 80%.
As head of the party receiving the most votes, Peres was was given 21 days to form a new government, for which he needed an extension of an additional 21 days. Finally, Likud and the Alignment reached agreement on a national unity government with the parties listed above. The result was a large Cabinet of 25 ministers. Likud and the Alignment agreed to have a rotating prime ministership, meaning that the leader of Likud, Shamir, would become prime minister in two years and Peres would take Shamir’s place as foreign minister.
