Herzog wins Labor vote

(VIDEO) Isaac Herzog, Ophir Pines-Paz, Avishay Braverman, Ami Ayalon and Yuli Tamir head the list of Labor party candidates for the 17th Knesset following the party's primary elections.

Herzog and Braverman (Photo: Eli Elgarat) 

After the final results were officialy published, Peretz said that "this is more than a happy and important day for all of us. This is an important day for the State of Israel and Israeli citizens, because they have received the perfect team that is going to win the election on March 28."

"This is the only team that knows the meaning of a socioeconomic agenda. There are members here who know how to negotiate, who have advanced diplomatic initiatives; they will do what’s best for Israel,” Peretz added.

“We will show the other parties what teamwork I all about.”

Peretz addresses party members following primaries

Labor party primaries polls closed Tuesday evening as more than 60 percent of the 117,000 eligible voters cast their ballots at some 354 voting stations across the nation.

2. Isaac Herzog

3. Ophir Paz-Pines

4. Avishai Braverman

5. Yuli Tamir (spot secured for female party member)

6. Ami Ayalon

7. Eitan Cabel

8. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer

9. Shelly Yechimovitz

10. Michael Melchior (spot secure for Meimad faction member)

Question of Ehud Barak remains open

All in all, the Labor elections passed smoothly, apart from a few isolated violent incidents; candidate Alon Pinkas, former Israeli consul-general in New York and a member of Ehud Barak’s camp, claimed that Amir Peretz’s supporters damaged posters his headquarters had prepared ahead of the vote.

Pinkas does not have a realistic chance of becoming a Labor MK due to his low ranking in the elections.

Herzog and Pines-Paz have been marked for a while as party list leaders, but many were surprised by the swift progress of Braverman, who in short time managed to take fifth place.

Just two months ago, Braverman was thought to be a Kadima "purchase," but has instead turned into a Labor star.

The selection of former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon in the party list didn't surprise Labor members. Ayalon has become the party's top security agenda authority, and he could take up the post of defense minister in a certain political condition.

Histadrut takeover?

The question of Ehud Barak remains open. Senior Labor party members say that they will try and mediate between Peretz and Barak using telephone diplomacy. Barak is currently abroad, and a program to return him to a top spot in the party list may be at work.

Ben-Eliezer, who is positioned at the eighth spot on Labor party's Knesset list, told Ynet that "now the real battle against Kadima begins, and the problem is how to prepare for the real battle."

He added that "the voters democratically elected the best team. I respect their choice, I thank my supporters and I congratulate the leadership."

A senior Kadima party member said in response to the results of Labor's primary elections that the party "represents an inexperienced candidate and an inexperienced group with one common denominator, which is the desire to take over Amir Peretz's role before the elections out of an understanding that the role is beyond him."

The official added that "Labor has today officially become an office of the Histadrut (labor federation) and its representatives have become hostages of the big (labor) committees."

Likud Spokesman Ronen Moshe said in response to the results, "the victory of Amir Peretz's deal in the elections for the Labor party's Knesset list completes in practice the takeover of Histadrut (labor federation) over the Labor party."