Final results from the Labor Party primaries, delayed for several hours by computer glitches, show that several of the party's extreme-left candidates will apparently not be elected to the next Knesset. They were relegated to low-ranking spots on the party's list of Knesset candidates - a list that is not expected to do well in the upcoming national election. Matan Vilnai, who served in the past as IDF Deputy Chief of Staff and Minister of Culture, Science and Sport, received the highest number of votes. He is thus listed in the fourth position on the list, following party leader Amram Mitzna, former party leader Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, and former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, for whom the first three places were reserved.
The next six on Labor's list of candidates are Avraham Burg, Dalia Itzik, party secretary-general Ophir Pines (for whom the 7th place was reserved), Ephraim Sneh, Yuli Tamir, and former Cabinet Secretary (under Barak) Yitzchak Herzog (grandson of Rabbi Isaac HaLevy Herzog, Israel's first Chief Rabbi).
The next six on the list: Chaim Ramon, Danny Yatom, Eitan Cabel (who won a narrow race against Eli Amir, Mitzna's candidate), Rabbi Michael Melchior (in the slot reserved for Meimad), Avraham Shochat, and Colette Avital (who won narrowly against Yael Dayan for a spot reserved for a woman).
Yossi Beilin, who received more votes than the next candidate on the list, was relegated to an unrealistic spot, because the next ten or so spots are reserved for various sectors. When Beilin was appointed Justice Minister in 1999, he resigned from the Knesset in order to make way for Colette Avital to enter the Knesset; when asked if she would now return the favor, Avital said, "I am thinking about it." There is also talk of making way for Beilin by backtracking on the deal with Meimad.
Former Labor MK Haggai Merom said today that Labor has made a serious mistake in "sending off its left-wing representatives" such as Beilin, Yael Dayan, Yossi Katz, Eli Amir, and Tzali Reshef to "no-man's land, or to Meretz." He said that the nation does not need another "right-wing party; it already has the Likud." Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who leads the party's more hawkish wing, disagrees, saying today, "Thank G-d the list is not a 'left-wing extremist' one."
The next six on Labor's list of candidates are Avraham Burg, Dalia Itzik, party secretary-general Ophir Pines (for whom the 7th place was reserved), Ephraim Sneh, Yuli Tamir, and former Cabinet Secretary (under Barak) Yitzchak Herzog (grandson of Rabbi Isaac HaLevy Herzog, Israel's first Chief Rabbi).
The next six on the list: Chaim Ramon, Danny Yatom, Eitan Cabel (who won a narrow race against Eli Amir, Mitzna's candidate), Rabbi Michael Melchior (in the slot reserved for Meimad), Avraham Shochat, and Colette Avital (who won narrowly against Yael Dayan for a spot reserved for a woman).
Yossi Beilin, who received more votes than the next candidate on the list, was relegated to an unrealistic spot, because the next ten or so spots are reserved for various sectors. When Beilin was appointed Justice Minister in 1999, he resigned from the Knesset in order to make way for Colette Avital to enter the Knesset; when asked if she would now return the favor, Avital said, "I am thinking about it." There is also talk of making way for Beilin by backtracking on the deal with Meimad.
Former Labor MK Haggai Merom said today that Labor has made a serious mistake in "sending off its left-wing representatives" such as Beilin, Yael Dayan, Yossi Katz, Eli Amir, and Tzali Reshef to "no-man's land, or to Meretz." He said that the nation does not need another "right-wing party; it already has the Likud." Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who leads the party's more hawkish wing, disagrees, saying today, "Thank G-d the list is not a 'left-wing extremist' one."