Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak narrowly won the Labor Party primaries Tuesday, once again becoming chairman of the party.

Barak garnered a total of 34,542 votes - 51.3 percent. His opponent, former Shabak (General Security Service) chief MK Ami Ayalon, received 32,117 votes – 47.7 percent. 65 percent of Labor’s eligible voters cast their ballots in this second round of primaries.

Barak pledged to work to strengthen the IDF and restore Israel’s deterrence. It is widely believed that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will appoint Barak as Defense Minister in the near future, replacing outgoing Labor Chairman Amir Peretz.

The former prime minister left politics for the private business sector after his loss to Ariel Sharon in 2001. His return to politics is considered a comeback – he was placed fourth in early opinion polls among Labor voters.

Comeback or Fraud?

Ayalon’s camp accuses Barak of election fraud in the Arab and Druze sectors, where Barak received an overwhelming majority of the votes. In Shfaram, for example, Barak suddenly received 2,000 more votes than he had in the previous round. In Um el-Fahm, Barak received three times as many votes as Ayalon despite the town’s hostility toward Barak for sending police into the town to quell Israeli-Arab riots in October, 2000. In that incident, several rioters were shot dead.

A local electioneer, speaking with Army Radio, did not deny the possibility of fraudulent voting “carried out by an election worker who then voted on behalf of his whole clan, for example.”

Labor Secretary-General MK Eitan Cabel said the allegations had been reviewed and been found to be “not substantive.” Ayalon said that he does not plan on appealing the results, though he does plan to pursue a police investigation into the fraud itself. Ayalon supporters say they have evidence of enough fraudulent voting to change the outcome of the election. Barak associates called the allegations “the whining of losers.”

There were several reports of violence at Labor voting stations.

Victory Speech

“There is no governing without the public's trust,” Barak said in his victory speech. “In these times of anxiety, distrust and a general feeling that we have lost our way and our leadership, the Labor Party must position itself at the head of a democratic alternative leadership of Israel…Today begins the long journey toward bringing back level-headed, responsible, and experienced leadership to the State of Israel.

He also issued a call to Kadima party members who left when Shimon Peres lost to Amir Peretz to “come home.”

Likud Knesset Member Silvan Shalom has challenged Barak to break up the government coalition and face new general elections. Barak said prior to his election that he will not remain in a government headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert but wants a replacement from within the coalition instead of elections.

"This is the true public test of him [Barak]," MK Shalom stated. "Can he be trusted on his promises to the public or was he elected to be faithful to those who want to hold onto their positions in the government?"

IsraelNationalRadio.com Commentator Jay Shapiro noted: "The percentage of Labor voters who turned out to vote was highest in the Arab sector - and the Arabs voted overwhelmingly for Barak. He won the election by a slim majority, and the Arab vote was the deciding one. So the new head of the Labor party who will probably move into the present government and probably will be the Minister of Defense is a man who created the situation in the north that resulted in the war last summer and the growing threat in the north even today. The leader of the Labor party owes his election to the Arabs. None of this bodes well for Israeli democracy or for the State of Israel in general."