"We have unequivocal proof of forgeries on a very large scale," Labor leadership candidate Ami Ayalon's strategic advisor said Tuesday night.
In his first official statement since ballots closed, Yuval Porat harshly criticized the integrity of the primary elections for Labor Party chairman.
Ayalon himself arrived at the headquarters in Tel Aviv, saying, "I accept any result.
"Nonetheless, I plan to report what I have seen at the party to the police and the state comptroller, and any necessary body, because the Labor Party is my home, and my home will be clean."
Ayalon phoned Barak and congratulated him on his victory, and assured the new Labor chairman that he would not appeal the results, and planned to cooperate with him.
Sources at Ayalon's headquarters have accepted the fact that the final results are in line with exit polls, which showed an advantage for Barak.
Nonetheless, Porat claimed there are recordings and other evidence attesting to forgeries at the ballots.
Porat did not specify which voting stations were accused of forgeries, but implied that the ballots in question were located in Arab towns.
"We will expose the recording with the proof of forgery, one of many. We have filed a petition to the Labor appeals court. We plan to present much evidence," Porat said.
The appeals court was scheduled to convene at 2 am to discuss the petition, but the hearing was cancelled shortly after it was scheduled.
As Barak made his way to the Labor Party's headquarters to give his victory speech, Porat said, "We object to any attempt to steal the party. Any elected party chairman should rely only on the final results. We must mention that the scale of forgeries we have uncovered is very large and can effect the results in either direction."
Senior sources from Barak's headquarters rejected Porat's claims, and one minister who supports Barak told Ynet that "this is complete nonsense," while another Barak supporter told Ynet, "We made sure there would be no mishaps and no forgeries, and there were none."
Attila Somfalvi contributed to this report
First published: 00:57, 06.13.7