1978 Israeli Presidential Election

Israel's president was elected by secret Knesset ballot for a five-year term. An absolute majority was required on the first two ballots, with a plurality sufficient thereafter, and any resident of Israel was eligible to stand.[1] The term began when the president-elect made and signed a declaration of allegiance before the Knesset.[4]

The presidency had been held since 1973 by Ephraim Katzir, a prominent scientist.[4][5] Katzir announced that he would not seek another term, opening the contest.[6] The election was the first presidential vote after the 1977 political upheaval that brought Menachem Begin's Likud bloc to power.[7]

Likud's entry into government raised expectations that the ruling party would seek to capture the presidency as well.[8] Begin looked for a candidate who would become the first president not associated with the Alignment and, according to contemporary accounts, sought a candidate of Mizrahi origin.[6][7] He promoted Professor Yitzhak Shaveh, a relatively little-known religious scientist involved in defense-related nuclear research who was then on sabbatical in Paris.[6][7] Shaveh encountered opposition from the Democratic Movement for Change, the National Religious Party, and several Likud members, and ultimately did not stand.[6][7]

Elimelech Rimalt, put forward from the Liberal faction, also entered consideration but withdrew after failing to secure sufficient support.[7] With both prospective candidates out of the race, the governing coalition did not field a candidate. Yitzhak Navon of the Alignment therefore stood as the sole candidate.[1][8]

The Library of Congress country study dates the election to April 1978, while the Center for Israel Education lists May 24, 1978.[1][9] Ynet reports that Navon received 86 votes and that 23 Knesset members cast blank ballots.[8] A Maariv retrospective instead records 85 votes in his favor.[10] N12 places Navon's result alongside the 86-vote victories of Zalman Shazar in 1968 and Shimon Peres in 2007.[11]

Navon was born in Jerusalem in 1921 and spoke Arabic fluently.[9] He entered the Knesset in 1965 with Rafi and later joined the Labor Party. Before his election he had served as a deputy speaker and as chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee.[2][12] He was closely associated with David Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres and had served for years as Ben-Gurion's personal secretary.[10][9] Navon was 57 when he became president after thirteen years in the Knesset.[7][2]

A Jerusalem Post retrospective describes an earlier attempt to reach the presidency in which Prime Minister Golda Meir did not support Navon and instead preferred Ephraim Katzir.[13] Navon had also chaired the Zionist General Council before his eventual election.[2][12]

Beyond politics, Navon had worked as a teacher and in senior civil-service positions, including the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Education and Culture.[2][12] An American Jewish Archives study identifies him as being of Moroccan origin and places his presidency within the broader rise of Sephardi representation in Israeli public life.[14]

Navon delivered his inaugural address before the Knesset on May 29, 1978.[15] He said the Knesset's choice had "crossed the bounds between Government and Opposition, between parties and communities" and declared that he would represent every component of Israel's political, social, and religious fabric, including those who had not supported his candidacy.[15]

Navon expressed appreciation for the trust placed in him and trepidation about the responsibilities of the office.[15] Speaking in Israel's thirtieth year of independence, he discussed peace and relations with the Arab world, aliyah and ties with world Jewry, and the moral and cultural development of Israeli society.[15] He also praised Katzir, who had voluntarily left office to return to science, and thanked him for his work and advice.[15]

Navon's term ran from May 29, 1978, to May 5, 1983.[3] He served for five years on a nonpartisan basis.[1] His election also led him to resign from the board of a private Jerusalem educational society because presidential office made such service impossible; he reportedly said that he would return after his term.[16]

Navon opened the President's Residence to the public, where his wife Ofira and their young children lived with him. The family's accessible approach was notable, although a Jerusalem Post account says that some conservative observers found it unfamiliar.[13]

In October 1980, Navon visited Egypt in what the World Jewish Congress and Encyclopedia.com describe as the first official visit by an Israeli president to an Arab state.[2][12] The Library of Congress country study reports that Israeli observers regarded his presidency as a source of unifying symbolic leadership amid political controversy and upheaval, in contrast to what they viewed as Begin's more polarizing leadership.[1]

Navon did not seek a second term and returned to Labor politics. Chaim Herzog succeeded him as Israel's sixth president.[1][12] Thus, during Likud's period in government from 1977 to 1984, both Navon and Herzog were elected as Alignment or Labor candidates.[11]

The principal unresolved discrepancy concerns the election date. The Library of Congress country study identifies an April 1978 election, while the Center for Israel Education gives May 24, 1978.[1][9] Navon's presidential term and inaugural address began on May 29, meaning that this occurred several weeks after an April vote but only five days after the date supplied by the Center for Israel Education.[15][3]

Published accounts also disagree on the vote total. Ynet reports 86 votes for Navon and 23 blank ballots, whereas a Maariv retrospective reports 85 votes.[8][10] N12 independently gives the 86-vote figure.[11] The description of Navon's presidency as a unifying counterpoint to Begin's leadership is explicitly an interpretation attributed to contemporary Israeli observers rather than a measurable feature of the election result.[1]