Labor poised to pick leader
Polls: Peres ahead in party’s primaries race; Peretz victory would bring down government
Voting is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. and end at 8 p.m. However, the central elections committee may extend voting hours under exceptional circumstances.
Polls show Peres is poised to win the primaries, despite a strong challenge from labor union leader Amir Peretz. The third candidate, Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, is far behind the two frontrunners.
A Peres victory is not expected to prompt dramatic changes, but a Peretz win would push Labor out of the government and lead to early elections. Peretz, who rejoined the party only about a year ago after leading his own small party, One Nation, greatly boosted his position within Labor during the past year. A strong Peretz showing that would force a second round – in the event no candidate garners 40 percent of the vote in the first round – would be seen as a huge surprise.
Peretz hopes for low voter turnout rate
The three candidates undertook intensive efforts ahead of elections day. Numerous volunteers have filled the rooms of the Peres campaign headquarters, phoning party members and potential voters in a bid to persuade them to show up at the ballots Wednesday.
Despite of the flattering polls, the vice premier's associates have decided not to take any chances, remembering that Peres has more than once lost in contests that were labeled 'a sure win' for him.
Peres' associates are mostly concerned about the possibility that Peretz activists will attempt to resort to "questionable moves" on elections day. They are also worried that Peretz’s well-oiled apparatus of supporters could also make a difference.
Peretz, on his part, would be pleased with low voter turnout rates at the ballots, with polls showing a tighter race in that case.
Backers of the vice premier, including ministers Dalia Itzik, Haim Ramon and Matan Vilnai, former prime Minister Ehud Barak and deputy Minister Orit Noked gathered Tuesday to express their public support for Peres.
The atmosphere at the meeting was pleasant, and while Peres himself tried to maintain an aura of party unity and cordiality, Barak did not hesitate to take a swipe at Peretz and the party he founded several years ago, One Nation, characterizing it as "clear of any ideology."
Meanwhile Peretz continued his unrelenting campaign to the last minute. At a meeting in his hometown of Sderot, the candidate introduced a lineup of leading Labor figures in past and present, as well as Likud and national Religious Party supporters who said they back his bid.
Ben-Eliezer promises surprise
Despite the fact that he trails Peres in the polls, Peretz is looking at the bright side: “The gap has been narrowing in the last 12 hours since the Peres-Vilnai alliance, and it is currently standing at 8 or 9 percent.”
According to his estimates, if Vilnai would have stayed in the race, he (Peretz) would have won the race; and even if Barak was still there he would have swept 41 percent of the votes in the first round.
Peretz repeated his social vision, vowing to complete the social revolution and to pull out of the coalition as soon as he reaches Labor’s top seat.
On the eve of the primaries, he is still campaigning, making phone calls with some supporters from his campaign headquarters in Tel Aviv and expressing his satisfaction with the support he enjoys.
Former Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer, meanwhile, is not paying to much attention to polls that show him trailing behind Peres and Peretz. He is promising a surprise when votes are counted and results are declared late Wednesday.
