"WE DECLARE that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People's Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People's Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called "Israel"." Thus is stated in Israel's "Declaration of Independence."
First, there was the "People's Administration" acting as a Provisional State Council. In the general election on January 25, 1949 an Assembly of Representatives was elected, later renamed the "Knesset." Since then the Knesset celebrates its birthday on 9 Shevat.
70 years later, the faces are different, the times have changed, the political parties are different, and we are not so young anymore. Still the enthusiasm remains, and we remain the only democracy in a sea of Muslim fundamentalism and Arab "Winter."
So let us go back in time to January 1949, to the first elections.