The Labor Party list for the 19th Knesset was released on Friday
morning, with MK Issac Herzog taking the second spot on the list
following Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich.
Yacimovich expressed great pleasure at her party's elected list for the 19th Knesset.
"We
have an incredible list," Yacimovich said in a speech to Labor
supporters following the announcement of the primary results. "In my
best dreams, I could not have come up with a better list," she added.
"This
list represents all factions of Israeli society," she boasted.
Candidates on the list represent "an impressive history of leadership
and achievements together with young people who know how to fight. They
have come together to serve the country," she said.
In her speech, Yacimovich slammed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's leadership and cited two failures to his credit - the unilateral Palestinian move to gain UN recognition and the poverty report that was published on Thursday.
The
vote showed how much influence party leader Yacimovich has, as opposed
to the growing opposition within Labor led by MK Amir Peretz. Yacimovich
has tried in recent weeks to position Labor as a centrist party, saying
on Tuesday night that she hoped the list would not be “too left-wing.”
Former defense minister Amir Peretz got the third spot, followed by Itan Cabel, former Haaretz columnist Merav Michaeli and MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. Herzog received 3,000 votes more than rival Peretz.
Peretz
told Israel Radio he is pleased with the results. "I'm very pleased
with what we got here today - both important experienced Labor members,
people I've aided, and new, young members that I believe will help the
Labor Party," Peretz said.
Peretz stated he intends to "bring
back the diplomatic agenda to the negotiating table" in the 19th
Knesset. "I was the first to put the social topic on the agenda, but
without peace we can't fix the social issue," Peretz told Israel Radio.
Leaders
of the summer 2011 social protest Stav Shaffir and Itzik Shmuly also
got high spots, with Shaffir getting the 8th spot and Shmuly getting the
12th spot.
Michaeli and Yacimovich are not the only former
journalists to receive high spots on the party's list, investigative
journalist Mickey Rosental got the 13th spot on the list.
Noam Schalit came through just 39th
on list after he left his hi-tech job and met Labor members across the
country for a year, whilst Peace Now former secretary-general Yariv
Oppenheimer came in 27th.
58 percent of Labor’s 60,424 eligible members voted for 8-12 candidates out of 83 after taking to the polls on Thursday, who are competing for about 20 spots in the next Knesset, according to Thursday’s The Jerusalem Post/Smith Research poll.
Voting took place between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. in 68 locations from
Eilat in the South to Kiryat Shmona in the North, and went smoothly,
with complaints in only a few polling places.
Lahav Harkov and Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.