2014 Israeli Presidential Election

Israel’s president is the country’s head of state, a largely ceremonial office filled by the Knesset. The president is elected for a single seven-year term, and the voting is conducted by secret ballot.[5][4] If no candidate receives the required majority, the two leading candidates advance to a runoff.[1] The election was called to select a successor to Shimon Peres, whose term was due to end in 2014. Peres had announced in April 2013 that he would not seek an extension.[6]

The contest featured five candidates: Likud lawmaker and former Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin; Meir Sheetrit; former Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik; retired Supreme Court justice Dalia Dorner; and Nobel Prize laureate Dan Shechtman.[1][4] Labor-backed candidate Binyamin (Fouad) Ben-Eliezer had also entered the race, but withdrew three days before the vote after an investigation into allegations of financial impropriety. He acknowledged receiving money from a businessman, described it as an unpaid loan, and denied wrongdoing, calling the campaign against him a “targeted assassination.” These were reported allegations and responses, not findings established by the election.[2]

The campaign also prompted political maneuvering over the timing and status of the vote. A later account reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sought to delay the election and that senior Likud figures considered legislation abolishing the presidency; coalition partners and ministers Gideon Sa’ar and Haim Katz opposed the initiative.[7] Earlier, Silvan Shalom had chosen not to run following allegations of sexual misconduct; ynet reported that he denied the allegations and that the investigation was closed.[8]

The Knesset held the election on June 10, 2014. In the first round, Rivlin received 44 votes, Sheetrit 31, Itzik 28, Dorner 13, and Shechtman one. None reached the 61-vote majority, so Rivlin and Sheetrit advanced to the runoff.[1] Itzik, who had served as interim president in 2007 and was the first woman to serve as Knesset speaker, finished third.[9]

Of the Knesset’s 120 members, 119 participated and Meir Porush was absent; two first-round ballots were disqualified because each envelope contained two slips.[1][10] Rivlin’s own first-round vote was reportedly one of those disqualified: a later account said that, moved by the occasion, he placed two voting slips in his envelope.[11]

In the second round, Rivlin defeated Sheetrit by 63 votes to 53 and became president-elect.[1][10] The Jewish Virtual Library records the remaining four runoff votes as other or invalid.[12] Between the rounds, the rival camps worked to attract lawmakers who had supported the eliminated candidates.[8]

Rivlin’s campaign attracted support beyond Likud. Labor lawmaker Shelly Yacimovich announced that she would vote for him despite their ideological differences, calling him an “exemplary democrat.”[3] Rivlin presented the presidency as a bridge among groups in Israeli society and between Israel and Diaspora Jewry, and said it should act as a “social shock absorber” in difficult times.[13]

The candidates advanced distinct themes for the office. Itzik argued that electing Israel’s first woman president would carry significance beyond symbolism, sending a message both internationally and within Israeli society. Sheetrit emphasized poverty, inequality, housing, and minority groups as pressing domestic concerns.[13] Rivlin’s political positions also differed from Peres’s: a Congressional Research Service report said Rivlin favored a confederation of Israelis and Palestinians rather than publicly supporting a two-state solution.[14]

Rivlin and Netanyahu, both associated with Likud, had a strained political relationship. Contemporary reporting said Rivlin had to overcome Netanyahu’s initial opposition to his candidacy.[10] A later account described Netanyahu as campaigning to prevent Rivlin’s election and reported that senior Likud figures considered legislation abolishing the presidency, an initiative opposed by coalition partners and ministers Gideon Sa’ar and Haim Katz.[7] These accounts describe reported political maneuvering rather than an official explanation of the vote.

After the result, Rivlin visited the Western Wall. In his victory speech, he said he was leaving party politics and was now “a man of everyone” and “a man of the people.”[8] Peres congratulated him by telephone and offered to help with the transition. Rivlin said it would be difficult to follow Peres, who counseled him that the president’s role was to serve the nation.[15][8]

Rivlin succeeded Peres as Israel’s tenth president, taking office in July 2014 for a seven-year term. The American Jewish Committee stated that he was to take office on July 24, while a contemporary Globes report gave July 27, so the reports differ on the precise date.[16][10] Upon his election, Rivlin ceased to be a member of the Knesset.[17]

Rivlin’s presidential term ran from 2014 to 2021.[18][19] During the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion Board of Governors week in Israel in November 2014, a delegation met Rivlin and other senior government figures. The institution’s report described him as the country’s new president but did not give the meeting’s exact date.[20]

In congratulating Rivlin, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks praised the way Peres had elevated the presidency and described Peres’s global statesmanship as providing Israel and the Jewish people with an or l’goyim, “a light unto the nations.”[21]

Accounts of the election emphasize the transfer of the presidency from Peres, an internationally prominent figure, to Rivlin, a former Knesset speaker whose profile abroad was lower.[14][19] The office’s mostly ceremonial character meant that the contest also centered on how its holder would represent national unity and serve as a public voice.[5][13]

In his victory speech, Rivlin said, “I will be the President of everyone, and a man of the people,” and declared, “Long live Israeli democracy! Long live the State of Israel!”[10][8] A World Jewish Congress statement welcoming his election praised his record as Knesset speaker, saying he had shown an ability to act across party lines and reach out internationally.[1]

The campaign was affected by allegations against candidates and political disagreements about the conduct of the race. Ben-Eliezer withdrew while under investigation over alleged unreported funds, denied wrongdoing, and disputed the campaign against him; the cited reporting does not establish the allegations as proven.[2] Shalom withdrew after separate allegations, which he denied; ynet reported that the related investigation was closed.[8]

Verified reports reconcile the apparent difference between participation and candidate totals in the first round. The World Jewish Congress reported 119 ballots cast, two invalid ballots, and one absent lawmaker.[1] Globes likewise said that 119 members participated and identified Meir Porush as absent.[10] The five candidate tallies reported by ynet total 117 valid votes, matching 119 ballots minus the two invalid ballots.[8]