Barak returns to Labor fold

MK Shalom Simhon shepherded the former PM's return to party activity.

By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL
ehud barak jpost298 88aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
ehud barak jpost298 88aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
After months of seesawing, Ehud Barak has resumed active participation in the Labor Party in a last-minute drive of election campaigning. MK Shalom Simhon, a long-time confidant of Barak, shepherded the former prime minister's return to party activity via a series of talks with party chairman Amir Peretz. A spokeswoman for Simhon suggested that Labor might earmark a ministerial post for Barak. "There is a chance that Labor will demand the defense portfolio, and then Barak could take it. He is the most suited," she said. Labor Party officials, however, dismissed the suggestion that Barak could be the next defense minister . "Who knows what will happen with the ministries, no one is seriously talking about demanding this or that portfolio," said one official. The official added that according to Labor regulations, the party chairman could be voted out by the party's central committee six months following a national election. The official suggested that Barak might be positioning himself to take over the Labor Party chairmanship at that time.