The Labor Party board has asked former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who previously served as the head of the party, to run for the leadership in the upcoming primary, Haaretz reported on Thursday.
Eight of the 13 board members, representing a wide range of viewpoints within the party, signed on to the request for Barak to run, according to the report.
Barak is expected to make a decision over the weekend on whether he will run for the Labor Party leadership in the upcoming primary. Sources close to the former Prime Minister said Barak's run would be predicated on the possibility of a merger of the center-left parties onto a joint slate.
In polls seen by senior Labor officials, Barak's leadership is expected to add between five and seven seats to Labor's polling averages, according to Haaretz. People close to Barak were impressed by the board's personal request, given that the board is a significant anchor of the party system.
Barak led the Labor Party between 1997 and 2001, and then again between 2007 and 2011, when he left in order to form the Independence party. That move came at a time when many Labor MKs wanted him to leave Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition.
Barak, wishing to remain in his role as Defense Minister, split the Labor party instead, taking his supporters with him to his new party.
Before the September 2019 elections, Barak formed the Israel Democratic Party, which later merged with Meretz.