BICOM

The Israeli Labour party will hold a second round of its leadership election on Monday 12 July as no candidate reached the 40 per cent threshold to claim outright victory in yesterday’s election.

Former Defence Minister Amir Peretz MK came first with 32.5 per cent of the votes, followed by Avi Gabbay in second place with 27 per cent. The current Labour Leader, Isaac Herzog, came third with 16.7 per cent and will end his four year tenure as chairman of the party.

Erel Margalit MK came fourth with 16.1 per cent and Omer Bar-lev MK came fifth with 6.9 per cent. In total 30,998 votes were cast on a 59 per cent voter turnout, a slight rise on the 52 per cent that voted in 2013.

After the results were announced, Amir Peretz thanked his supporters: “I am grateful for the trust that has been placed in me and for the huge support that I received the whole way that brought me to first place in the primaries.”

Avi Gabbay, former Environmental Protection Minister who was appointed as an external candidate by Kulanu party leader Moshe Kahlon, said: “I want to thank my friends in the Labour party, who accepted me with the warmest embrace possible. Over the last six months, I’ve seen that many found my being new difficult, but you’ve proven that you can focus on what matters and know how to accept someone new. You’ve proven this is an open party.”

He added: “We’re not a members’ club and not the Tel Aviv party.  We successfully passed the first hurdle, but the hardest one is yet to come. We need you with us next week, as well, for without that we would have only done half the job.”

He vowed to ensure Labour is able to form a governing coalition in Israel, “not join a coalition” — a reference to last year’s intermittent coalition contacts between Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

After learning the result, Herzog issued a statement congratulating Gabbay and Peretz and accepting his defeat. “The members of the Labour party have spoken. I respect their decision,” Herzog said.