Israel's Labor Party begins run-off election to elect new leader

Sep 21, 2011

Tel Aviv - Polls opened in Israel Wednesday as the 66,310 members of the Israel Labor Party prepared to vote in a run-off election for a new leader to replace Ehud Barak, who plunged the party into crisis when he left in January to form a new faction.

Outspoken former journalist and front-bench legislator Shelly Yechimovich is taking on Amir Peretz, a one-time trade union head who led the party between 2005 to 2007.

The two used to be close political allies, but relations between them have soured dramatically in recent months. They scored the most votes in the election last week, defeating two other candidates but were unable to pass the 40 per cent needed to avoid the run-off.

The winner will be the party's seventh leader in the past decade, but it is thought unlikely that the new head will be able to lead Labor back to power in the next elections.

Nonetheless, the run-off could have a bearing on which party will form the governing coalition after the next Israeli elections, due in 2013.

Both candidates seek to take advantage of the current socio-economic discontent sweeping the country as Israelis demonstrate against the high cost of living.

Analysts say Peretz can attract voters from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, many of whom, like the former trade unionist, come from a similar blue-collar, working class background.

Yechimovich, on the other hand, could attract middle-class voters who support the opposition Kadima party, and pull enough votes from the centrist party to make the Likud the largest party after the election, and thus tasked with forming the new coalition.

In its many previous incarnations Labor was once Israel's natural party of government, but has in recent elections gradually lost ground, scoring its lowest-ever results in February 2009 - 13 of the 120 seats in parliament.

Barak and four others stormed out of the party in January this year to form a new faction, leaving Labor with a mere eight parliamentary seats.

The 171 polling stations used in the run-off close at 10 pm local time (1900 GMT.) Results are not expected until late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1664178.php/Israel-s-Labour-Party-begins-run-off-election-to-elect-new-leader.