Social Services and Welfare Minister Yitzchak Herzog was the winner in Thursday's Labor Party primary elections, followed by MK Ophir Pines-Paz. It was a close race for the top, with only a few hundred votes separating the two men: Herzog taking 24,673 mandates, and Pines-Paz garnering 24,238 of the votes.
Both will follow party chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the Knesset candidates' list, however, whose Number One spot was reserved.
With 100 percent of the votes counted, the 2009 Knesset list for the Labor party thus stands as follows:
1. Party Chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak
2. Social Services and Welfare Minister Yitzchak Herzog
3. MK Ophir Pines-Paz
4. Mk Avishai Braverman
5. MK Shelly Yechimovich (reserved for a woman)
6. Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai
7. Labor Secretary MK Eitan Cabel (reserved spot)
8. National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer
9. Education Minister Yuli Tamir (spot reserved for a woman)
10. Amir Peretz (who actually won more votes than Tamir)
11. Daniel Ben Simon
12. Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon
13. Orit Noked (reserved for kibbutzim representative)
14. Einat Wilf
15. Science, Culture and Sport Minister Raleb Majadele (reserved for Arab sector)
16. (reserved for Druze sector)
17. MK Yoram Marciano (reserved for neighborhoods' representatives)
18. MK Leon Litinetsky (reserved for new immigrant)
19. (reserved for woman)
20. (reserved for Sharon and Samaria districts)
In announcing the results at a party meeting Friday morning, Barak praised the list as "the best team" to close the gaps in society and bring back the "rule of law."
He gave credit to the party's first-term MKs for changing the political scene and wished success to recent newcomers who might not make it into the Knesset in the next election.
Recent polls have projected a significant loss for the Labor party in the next elections, predicting a maximum win of 8-11 Knesset seats.
If the projections are correct, Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon and Israeli Arab Minister of Science, Culture and Sport, Raleb Majadele, will no longer be Knesset Members. However, this does not mean they cannot be appointed as cabinet ministers; Defense Minister Barak is not currently an MK. It does mean, however, that they cannot be considered for the position of Prime Minister, who must come from the ranks of the current MKs.
Barak expressed confidence that the party would be at the center of leadership for the people of Israel, but said that if necessary, Labor would sit in the opposition camp.
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