Nitzan Horowitz
Nitzan HorowitzFlash 90

Former Knesset Member Nitzan Horowitz was elected as chairman of the Meretz party on Thursday evening after winning 56% of the votes of the party's members.

Current Meretz chairwoman Tamar Zandberg won 43% of the vote.

"We are ready for dialogue and need to form alliances with new, Arab and Druze publics," declared Horowitz in his victory speech.

He criticized the Blue and White party, saying, "This is the main opposition party, they are supposed to challenge the government, but they are nothing but a soap bubble. 35 useless seats."

On Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Horowitz said, "A prime minister who runs the country from the position of a criminal suspect and in order to escape from prison makes deals of political bribery and abandons our future."

MK Tamar Zandberg, who lost the elections for Meretz leader, said, "A huge thank you to all my supporters. Congratulations to Nitzan Horowitz. Meretz is the left of Israel and I am here to fight for the future of our country. We will continue to lead. Along the way there are losses and victories, and this is one of those nights."

MK Shelly Yechimovich (Labor) congratulated Horowitz, saying, "Nitzan is a very worthy person, and I'm sure he'll be a good and successful chairman. Cooperation between Labor and Meretz now seems more realistic than in the past. Good luck my friend Nitzan.”

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein also congratulated Nitzan Horowitz. "Meretz's views on a variety of issues are radically different than mine, but it is impossible not to appreciate the democratic process taking place in the party, a process that currently exists only in Likud and Labor. I congratulate Nitzan Horowitz on his election as chairman of Meretz," he said.