Meretz to determine electoral list in internal poll on Thursday

There are some 14 candidates standing for election to the first five spots on the list after newly elected party chairman Nitzan Horowitz.

By JEREMY SHARON
Meretz head Nitzan Horowitz (photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
Meretz head Nitzan Horowitz
(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
The 1,000 member Meretz Party conference will select candidates for its electoral list on Thursday for an election that will once again prove challenging for the strongly left-wing party.
There are some 14 candidates standing for election to the first five spots on the list after newly elected party chairman Nitzan Horowitz, with nine more candidates contesting the next five spots.
Meretz took just four seats in the April general election, passing the electoral threshold by just 16,000 votes, but is currently polling between four and six seats.
Ahead of the last election, then chair MK Tamar Zandberg – ousted last month by Horowitz – headed Meretz’s electoral list, followed by MKs Ilan Gilon, Michal Rozin and Esawi Frej.
A party source said on Wednesday that he did not believe there would be too much change in the current composition of the top five candidates and said it would be very surprising if any of the current MKs get evicted from their top five spots.
He said he speculated that Zandberg had a good chance of getting the highest spot after Horowitz, based on political deals she has forged in the party, particularly with fellow MK Esawi Frej, while Gilon will also likely do well.
Speaking on Wednesday at a press conference, Horowitz intimated that the party would be looking to draw back to its fold voters who voted for Blue and White in the last election as a tactical vote to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as drawing in apathetic citizens who did not vote in the last election and new voters.
He also criticized what he described as the superficial nature of the current political discourse and said that Meretz was focusing on a message of equality and liberty for Israel’s citizens.
“The Israeli public feels that its life and values are under attack: secular people, women, left-wingers, LGBTs, Arabs and the elderly struggling to exist – everyone is suffering from harm to their liberty and equality,” declared Horowitz.


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