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The Israeli Labour Party elected MK Amir Peretz as their new leader.

Peretz received 47 per cent of yesterday’s vote, comfortably beating his two younger rivals Stav Shaffir and Itzik Shmuli, who each received around 26 per cent of the vote. Just under 30,000 members voted, representing only 46 per cent of eligible voters.

Peretz decided to postpone his victory speech because of the country-wide protest led by the Ethiopian community. He issued a statement in which he said that he was moved by the results and felt the weight of the responsibility on him. Peretz noted that Stav Shaffir and Itzik Shmuli were an important part of the leadership and its future generation.

Peretz was Labour leader in 2005 after beating Shimon Peres. After the 2006 elections he served as Minister of Defence in the government of Ehud Olmert. His most significant achievement was approving the Iron Dome anti-missile defence system. In 2007 Peretz was replaced by Ehud Barak as party leader.

Before the election, Peretz said that if he won he would invite several senior political figures to join the party, including Barak, Tzipi Livni, Orly Abuksis-Levy and Michael Melchior.

During a press conference yesterday, Barak made clear that he would not join a Netanyahu-led government “under any circumstance”. He also offered to end the issue of the ultra-Orthodox serving in the military by proposing that both the ultra-Orthodox and Arab citizens take part in a form of civil national service, instead of the army, and this would boost their integration into the workforce.

Barak initially caused controversy after he organised the press conference on the same day and at the same venue as one of the largest Labour polling stations in Bet Sokolov in Tel Aviv. Shelly Yachimovich accused Barak of trying to: “Destroy our modest celebration of democracy and to grab the focus of attention. He is not waging a battle against Bibi, but against us. We can be a little less nice to him”.