Israel’s Labor party sets election for May 28, months after current chair Michaeli’s resignation

By Sam Sokol 25 February 2024, 12:27 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

Labor party leader MK Merav Michaeli leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on January 15, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Israel’s Labor party announces that it will hold an election to select a new leader on May 28.

The date, which must still be ratified by the party conference, comes several months after current chairwoman Merav Michaeli announced in December that she would step down to make room for a replacement.

“The State of Israel is in a great crisis and elections are required, bringing new leadership for our people. The Labor party has an important role in the rebuilding of the State of Israel and it must get there ready and strong,” Michaeli says in a statement.

The party has set a deadline for May 5 for members to register their candidacy for what the party claims will be “the most advanced” and transparent primaries in Israel, featuring online voting and public debates.

After taking over the party from Amir Peretz in 2021, Michaeli managed to increase Labor’s representation in the Knesset to seven seats, but the improvement in its standing was short-lived and, under her leadership, Labor shrank to the Knesset minimum of four seats in the November 2022 election.

Since then, Labor has consistently failed to cross the election threshold in periodic, though unreliable, polling.

Speaking with The Times of Israel in January, Michaeli insisted that if she “had the political answer” to the party’s problems, “I would have continued as Labor chair.”