Labor voters go to the polls to elect Knesset candidates

Forty-four candidates will compete for the top spots on the list in the hope of becoming the 21st Knesset, as the party continues to fall in the polls.

While turnout is expected to be low, the political agreements reached in recent days and the lists of recommended candidates are likely to play an important role in the primaries.

Primary to the Labor Party (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Various groups, such as the Histadrut Labor Federation and prominent kibbutzim activists, have distributed lists of recommended candidates to their constituents, although most of these lists already include senior members of the party who are already serving in the Knesset. Itzik Shmuli, Shelly Yachimovich, Amir Peretz, Stav Shaffir and Omer Bar-Lev are all favorites for the top five on the list, while MPs Revital Swid and Merav Michaeli are closely behind and should also be doing well. include.

The top 10 of Labor has only seven places available. The first place is reserved for the party's president, Avi Gabbay, while Gabbay also has the second and tenth places reserved for candidates of his choice.

Gabbay himself decided not to publicly publish his own list of recommended candidates, but in private he recommended six candidates: Shmuli, Yachimovich, Peretz, Shaffir, Bar-Lev and Michaeli. He is waiting for the results of the primaries to decide whether or not to use his two reserved places. Labor Party officials believe that Gabbay will not use his reserved seats if he can not recruit a personality to join the party.

President of the Labor Party Avi Gabbay (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

Despite the pessimistic polls, some of the new working clbad candidates have launched an intensive campaign, although their chances of getting a realistic place on the list remain very low.

New candidates include personalities and close badociates of senior party officials, including television presenter Emilie Moatti, close to President Gabbay, and Yair Fink, who shared his campaign with Yachimovich. Other new candidates include Rabbi Gilad Kariv, leader of the reform movement in Israel; journalist Henrique Cymerman; Gil Beilin, who is the son of former minister Yossi Beilin; and Michal Chernovitzky, who formed the ultra-Orthodox faction of labor.

Henrique Cymerman and Emilie Moatti (Photos: Yael Kehat, Dan Haimovich)

Within the party, there are several interesting political struggles. Yachimovich and Peretz, both former party leaders, were once allies, but have recently become fierce rivals. Everyone hopes to rank higher than the other in a battle for status and prestige, which could also indicate if he can again stand for the party presidency.

Meanwhile, MP Eitan Cabel is fighting for a top spot in the party, saying he is paying the political price for his campaign to replace Labor Party President Gabbay.

Shmuli and Shaffir, both leaders of the 2011 social protest, are secret rivals, even though they do not publicly demonstrate this rivalry. Shmuli is considered very popular and strong within the party and aims for first place on the list.

MPs Swid and Michaeli, meanwhile, are also fighting for the place of the third most powerful woman in the party, after Yachimovich and Shaffir.