Deputy Economy Minister Yair Golan (Meretz) on Wednesday morning announced that he will run for his party's top spot, facing off with its current chairman, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz.
According to Golan, his goal is to "build a proud and Zionist Left."
"I believe in democracy, justice, equality, and peace," Golan said.
"I will run for the purpose of fighting the messianic and corrupt Right. I will run because six years ago, in a speech that the Right decided to twist, I warned about these processes of animalism and corruption."
Golan does not have a large amount of support in Meretz, partly due to several extremist comments he made to the media, and his harsh verbal attacks on the Right, which some of his party members see as taking Meretz itself to a more extremist place.
Various sources in the party are trying to convince former Meretz MK Zehava Galon to return to politics and run for party chair, but Golan has insisted that she is not interested.