Meretz chief promises to quit politics if she fails to open party ranks

Meretz chairwoman Zehava Galon, who resigned from the Knesset on Thursday, said Saturday that she would quit political life altogether if she failed in her attempt to enact open primaries within her party.

“If I fail to open ranks in Meretz, I will retire from political life,” she told Channel 10.

“I love the Knesset and this is important to me, but the Israeli Left and Meretz are more important to me,” she added.

On Thursday, Galon officially resigned from the parliament, submitting a letter to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein.

It was not clear if the move was the first step in the longtime lawmaker’s eventual resignation from political life, or part of an effort to stave off an internal leadership challenge amid widespread opposition in the party to her planned primaries reforms.

She told Edelstein that she wanted to dedicate the coming months to her job as chair of Meretz, “in order to change the election process and to enact open primary elections,” a statement said.

Meretz’s primaries are currently a two-stage process in which party members elect delegates to the party’s top committee, which then selects the Knesset list. Calls have grown in recent years for the party to switch to a more transparent primary system that also allows non-members to have a say — a bid that some in the party hope could expand the reach of a dwindled and sidelined political left.

On October 26, Meretz will hold a party-wide vote for committee delegates, and Galon reportedly plans to present her open primaries plan to a December meeting of the newly selected committee. The new committee is also expected to approve a party leadership primary in the coming months.

In a letter to party members this week, Galon wrote, “I love [having a seat in] the Knesset, but I love Meretz more. And I know that if Meretz doesn’t open up, it won’t exist. The left has a much larger and broader support base than the number of people who vote for Meretz. To realize that potential, Meretz must change. I’m convinced that my resignation from the Knesset will allow me, as chair of Meretz, to focus on advancing the open primaries idea and transforming Meretz into a large and inclusive home for all those who believe in our values.”

The party would suffer and shrink if it failed to inject “new blood” into its ranks, she said.

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Galon has promised that if she loses in her bid to change the primaries process, she will resign as leader of the party.

Internal party gossip points to one key challenger in the next leadership race: MK and primary reform opponent Tamar Zandberg.

Galon has been a member of Knesset almost consistently since 1999 and took over the party leadership in 2012. Meretz currently holds five Knesset seats.

Galon is to be replaced in the parliament by the next in line on the party’s Knesset slate, former MK and currently the party’s secretary-general Mossi Raz.

After it appeared that Meretz was going to finish the 2015 parliamentary elections with just four seats, Galon said she would relinquish her Knesset seat and quit politics altogether.

But after the remaining one percent of votes were tallied, the party gained a fifth seat and Galon declared that she would stay on as party leader.