Zehava Galon, who chaired the Meretz Party in the past, was re-elected on Tuesday evening to the position of party chairwoman and will lead it in the elections to the 25th Knesset.
After Galon, the Meretz slate as chosen in the party primaries held on Tuesday, is made up of Mossi Raz, Michal Rozin and Ali Salalha.
Yair Golan, who challenged Galon for the party leadership, finished in fifth place, and is followed by Gaby Lasky. Former Meretz Nitzan Horowitz was chosen in the seventh spot, which more than likely means that he will not be part of the next Knesset.
In a speech given by Galon after her victory, she said, "To all those who eulogized Meretz, I have news for you: Like the phoenix that rose from the dust to a new life - tonight Meretz was resurrected. And tonight, Meretz rises again."
"Just as the fights of the left are reawakening and becoming stronger in the world - this is what happened tonight in Israel as well. The left is alive and well. And tonight the leftists returned to Meretz. In the last few weeks I met multitudes of young women and young men. They weren't even born when we founded Meretz. But they told me proudly - ‘We are not in the center. We are proud leftists. We are proud social democrats. We are proud secularists - and we no longer hide it.’ The leftists flocked to the polling stations today and chose - Meretz. Civic, ethical, leftist, proud of itself. And they also chose a wonderful slate - a leftist team that I am proud to stand at the head of."
"On November 1, we will see hundreds of thousands of leftists flocking to Meretz and ushering us into the Knesset and to the government of change. Because they also know - Lapid needs a strong Meretz to his left, and Gantz needs a strong Meretz to his left. I can tell you that my first phone call will be to Prime Minister Lapid, and I'm going to tell him that Meretz, led by me, will be a key player in his government, we will be a strong side to his left," Galon added.
She turned to Golan and said, "I want to thank Yair Golan and put all the differences aside. I want to thank our wonderful team and the man who headed Meretz in recent years, Nitzan Horowitz. Thank you for being the right man in the right place, and taking the historic step that brought Meretz into the government. Starting tomorrow morning, all of us together, we will start working towards November 1. We will defeat the Bibists and the Kahanists - those who want to run over the leftists, crush their bones, put us on trains and send us out of here. Those who want to crush the Supreme Court and spill bleach on the prosecutor's office. When Meretz is strong in the Knesset, Bibi-Ben Gvir will be left out."