On January 25, 1949, Israel held its first national elections. With a voter turnout of 86.9%, the election ended with a victory for the left-wing Mapai Party that was led by David Ben-Gurion.Due to the ongoing War of Independence, the elections were previously canceled twice, but were finally successfully held on this day. In November of the previous year, the Provisional State Council (the temporary governing body set up in April 1948) decided that the eventual Knesset would be made up of 120 seats. In order to avoid confusion, the assembly decided to maintain the same electoral system that had been in place for the Assembly of Representatives (the pre-state Jewish governing body that legislated under British Mandatory Palestine from 1920 to 1944). About 1,000 polling stations were set up around the country with at least 500,000 eligible voters present around the country (according to the census).The results were certified on February 14, 1949, when the name of the governing body officially became the Knesset, and by March 8, the government was officially formed. This resulted in a governing coalition led by Ben-Gurion’s Mapai with 46 seats, which consisted of Mapam (19 seats), the United Religious Front (16 seats), The Progressive Party (five seats), the Sephardim and Oriental Communities Party (four seats), and the Democratic List of Nazareth (two seats). The opposition was led by Menachem Begin and his Herut (“Freedom”) party with 14 seats.The previous year, the Provisional Council had confirmed both Hebrew and Arabic as the official languages of the state. The first two major laws to be passed by this first government were an educational law that made school for children ages five to 14 compulsory and the Law of Return in July 1950. By the end of that year, a new election was on the horizon after Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion resigned. He would go on to create a new government and a second election was held in 1951.