In the wake of Labor’s relatively low election result of 13 mandates, Knesset Member Amir Peretz has called on Labor leader Ehud Barak to resign or be prepared to be ousted.
The party’s bylaws call for a leadership primary election within the next 14 months. This factor, in addition to the party’s paltry results, has prompted Peretz to attempt to replace Ehud Barak as the party’s current chair. Others on the Labor list have not publicly joined Peretz’s call for Barak to resign. However, they have expressed their interest to run in the leadership primaries.
"When I led the party in 2006, if I would have gotten 13 seats, I would have quit immediately," Peretz told The Jerusalem Post. "We need to take two steps: Set a timetable for choosing a chairman and form an interim leadership team to start the process of rehabilitating the party. Barak certainly cannot do that alone."
In the national elections of March 2006, the Labor party placed second with 19 seats, a loss of 3 from the previous elections. In the current elections, Labor’s popularity dwindled to 13 seats, fewer seats than the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is Our Home) party, which garnered 15 seats.
Peretz stated that his party membership should meet as soon as possible to vote that Labor would not join any coalition, even if led by Livni’s left-leaning Kadima party. In addition, Peretz stated that if Barak wants to keep his post as defense minister, he still has the option of quitting the Knesset and Labor, and being chosen by the Likud for the position, which he currently holds.
"Barak attempted in the campaign to sell Labor as a party led by a defense minister, and it didn't work," Peretz stated, adding that Barak’s decision to replace Prime Minister Olmert “boomeranged against us.” Peretz furthermore conceded that the nationalist camp has strengthened itself while reducing the peace camp’s parliamentary power.
During the election campaign, Peretz did not disclose his real feelings towards Barak’s leadership. In a political smoke cloud in development towns, Peretz even showed his support for Barak and asked his constituents to give Barak another chance.
The public deemed Amir Peretz’s performance as Defense Minister during the Second Lebanon War to be poor, prompting a call by the party membership for early primary elections to choose a new party leader. As a result of his defeat by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Peretz subsequently chose to resign from his post.