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Senior Israeli Labour Party officials, including representatives of Labour leader Isaac Herzog and former leader Shelly Yachimovich, are in talks to determine a date for primary elections, which will determine who will lead the party in the next general elections. While the precise date of the Labour leadership election is unknown, it is understood that they must take place by May 2016.

However, it is rumoured that Herzog will seek to postpone the vote so as to pre-empt potential leadership challenges from outside candidates. In an interview with Israeli radio, Yachimovich said: “I won’t support any manoeuvres to move up or move back the race to prevent candidates from running”. Potential outside candidates who might be mulling a run for the party’s top role are Ron Huldai, the mayor of Tel Aviv, and former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.

In other labour party news, MK Amir Peretz, the former labour party chairman and Israeli Minister of Defence announced earlier this week that he intends to run for a spot on the Labour Party list in its next primary elections. Peretz is currently a MK from Hatnuah, which is led by Tzipi Livni and ran in the previous elections together with Labour under the name the Zionist Union. Peretz had reportedly pushed Livni to merge her party entirely with Labour but was unsuccessful. It is possible that he, too, will challenge Herzog in the internal elections. Party sources told Haaretz: “The aroma of the primaries in Labour is in the air. Peretz has to take some real steps, openly, to once again be a significant and influential figure in Labour. This announcement is another step on that road.”