Gabbay is the new Labor chief, but can’t be opposition leader
He is not a sitting MK, so the former Kulanu minister must appoint a replacement lawmaker to helm the opposition; he’ll be largely sidelined until elections, set for 2019
Marissa Newman is The Times of Israel political correspondent.
The newly elected Labor chairman Avi Gabbay on Monday stunned Israelis by climbing to the top of the center-left party with 52 percent of the primary vote.
But since he is not an elected Knesset member, Gabbay, a former minister in the center-right Kulanu party, will not be permitted to take the reins in parliament until the next elections, currently set for November 2019.
Here’s how it works: Gabbay, who replaces incumbent Isaac Herzog, must now appoint a sitting Knesset member to be the opposition leader of Israel’s parliament.
The procedure requires that the replacement leader receive the backing of over half of the 54 opposition Knesset members and officially submit the request to the Knesset speaker.
Over the past week, Gabbay has said he prefers that Herzog, the opposition leader since 2013, retain the role should he be elected the Labor chairman.
“I have no reason to replace him with someone else,” Gabbay said on Thursday. “I think that would be inappropriate. I told him that even if he supports Amir Peretz, as far as I’m concerned he can remain opposition head.”
Herzog, who was eliminated in the first round of voting last week, on Sunday said he would step down once the results were called.
“This is not an easy moment for me, but I [will] respect the decision of the voters,” he wrote on Facebook on Sunday.
On Monday, Herzog was one of the first to congratulate Gabbay, even though he had thrown his support behind Peretz in the runoff.
“I just spoke to Avi Gabbay and congratulated him on his impressive campaign,” said Herzog in a tweet. “I made it clear to him that I will stand beside him and help him strengthen the Labor Party and change the government. I wish him good luck.”
In his victory speech in Tel Aviv, Gabbay repeated the offer to Herzog, to strong applause from his supporters.
Before the final vote, Gabbay was also rumored to be mulling appointing former Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich, who endorsed him this week, to the post, though there was no confirmation of the speculation.
Though his election was hailed as a turning point for the ailing Labor party, unless the government calls early elections, Gabbay has little to do for the next two years but campaign and fight to stay in the spotlight.
“We are starting our campaign tomorrow morning,” Gabbay said in his speech on Monday night.
While he can’t address the Knesset as opposition head, he will be able to lead the weekly faction meeting, a regular way for the political leaders to make headlines.
The Zionist Union leader, ‘in principle’
Gabbay has expressed interest in keeping the joint Zionist Union faction, comprising the Labor party and the Tzipi Livni-led Hatnuah party, intact.
The parties merged on the eve of the 2015 election to increase their chances of posing a challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.
A spokesperson for Livni said Gabbay was, “in principle,” now the leader of the Zionist Union though both parties must hammer out the details.
On Monday, after the result was called, Livni hailed Gabbay’s appointment, while calling for the creation of a large center-left bloc to oust Netanyahu from power, indicating she favored the continued partnership.
“Now, after the Labor party finished its internal democratic process, we must turn together to the public and expand our ranks to a large bloc” for the Israeli public that seeks the replacement of the government, said Livni, echoing similar calls by Herzog to form a large center-left bloc.
Taking 52.4 percent of the vote compared to Peretz’s 47.6, Gabbay came from a near-2,000 vote deficit in the first round of the primary that was held last week to win, getting 16,080 votes compared to 14,734 votes for Peretz.
Gabbay was seen as the dark horse in the race, bringing fresh blood and a right-wing political history to the traditionally dovish party. He claims to have brought thousands of new members to the Labor party, a fact that may be attested to with his surprise victory.
The primaries came after Labor had plummeted over the past year in opinion polls, receiving a projected 10-12 seats (combined with the Hatnua party that makes up the Zionist Union faction), down from its current 24 seats.
Gabbay’s leadership will likely determine whether the center-left party, plagued by internal divisions, is able to become the main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud, in the next elections, and, consequently, whether it could seize the premiership.
Meanwhile, the centrist Yesh Atid party appears to have wooed most of Labor’s voters, climbing steadily in surveys, and at this point poised to become the top contender against Likud, according to the polls.
Polls conducted between the first round of voting last week and the final vote indicated that neither Gabbay nor Peretz would be able to lift the party above third place, receiving a predicted 15-18 seats.
Raoul Wootliff, AFP contributed to this report.
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