Pensioners Party decides on top five Knesset candidates

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
The secretariat of the Pensioners Party decided on Thursday evening that the party's top five Knesset candidates for the February 10 general election would be: party chairman Rafi Eitan, journalist Gideon Reicher, former Labor MK Yossi Katz, Health Minister Yaacov Ben-Yizri and song writer Shimrit Or. The party decided not to include several celebrity candidates it negotiated with in recent weeks, including former IDF spokesman Ephraim Lapid and former police deputy inspector-general Sandor Mazor. Katz, who serves as the party's legal adviser, was chosen because he helped pass legislation in the Knesset for the benefit of the elderly, a party spokesman said. Both Katz and Or led a public campaign in the past against Labor chairman Ehud Barak, whose party competes for votes with the Pensioners Party.