Labor primaries come to close with 59% turnout
Results due Wednesday morning; 9 of the top 25 seats on list are already reserved, including for Livni’s Hatnua members
Nearly 29,000 registered Labor Party members, close to 59% of eligible voters, chose the party’s Knesset list Tuesday ahead of the upcoming March 17 elections.
Results from the primaries are expected to be announced Wednesday morning at 11 a.m.
The party primaries got under way at 10 a.m. and were closed at 10 p.m., when ballots from across the country were collected for counting.
Thirty-six candidates ran in the primaries, but in accordance with the deal reached between party chairman Isaac Herzog and Hatnua’s Tzipi Livni, five seats have been reserved for Hatnua members, making the competition for the remaining seats fierce.
Analysts predicted a number of high slots would go to female politicians amid a campaign for gender equality within the party’s slate.
Party favorites Shelly Yachimovich and Eitan Cabel were expected to go head-to-head for the third spot on the list (with Herzog at the helm and Livni slotted second).
Cabel, Erel Margalit, Merav Michaeli and newcomer Daniel Atar have reportedly reached a deal among themselves, creating a bloc and offering support to one another.
Slots No. 8, 16, 21, 24 and 25 are reserved for Hatnua members, and slot No. 11 will be saved for a candidate of Herzog’s choosing.
MK Hilik Bar, the party’s secretary general, will receive slot No. 7.
Economist Manuel Trajtenberg, the party’s choice for finance minister, should it be elected to form the next coalition, was also guaranteed a seat, from the 11th or 16th slot.
The Labor-Hatnua list is considered the only real contender to win more seats than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, according to recent polls, and hopes to form the next coalition.
The Jewish Home party will hold primaries on Wednesday for its Knesset line-up, with only six of the top 20 seats not reserved for members of the Tekuma faction, female candidates or candidates to be decided at the discretion of chairman Naftali Bennett.