ISRAEL: Ehud Barak takes over Israeli Labour party leadership, aiming to win prime minister post

Record ID: 396498

  • Title: ISRAEL: Ehud Barak takes over Israeli Labour party leadership, aiming to win prime minister post
  • Date: 13th June 2007
  • Summary: WOMAN READING NEWSPAPER VIEW OF NEWSPAPERS MAN READING NEWSPAPER
  • Embargoed: 28th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3XXCVZK99FSI2WR06F1OX6MBJ
  • Story Text: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak wins Labour party leadership, ousting Defence Minister Amir Peretz, in a move which may determine the fate of Israel's coalition government. Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak was declared winner of the leadership race for Israel's Labour Party over his challenger, former intelligence chief Ami Ayalon on Wednesday (June 13).
    Barak's win may have a bearing on the fate of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition government because the left-of-centre Labour Party is the main partner of his centrist Kadima party.
    He has called on Olmert to resign after an official report criticised the prime minister's handling of a war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon last year but has said he would not immediately bolt from the coalition.
    Labour ministers also seem unwilling to risk their posts in a major coalition realignment or in an early election which opinion polls suggest would favour former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud party.
    Barak won 51.2 percent of the vote of the nationwide party membership of some 103,000 eligible voters, with Ayalon taking 47.7 percent. The small remainder abstained.
    Labour held the leadership run-off because none of the original five candidates scored the required 40 percent in the first ballot on May 28.
    Barak, 65, a former army chief, will replace outgoing party leader Amir Peretz, the current defence minister. He stepped down as prime minister in 2001 after a Palestinian uprising erupted and peace talks collapsed. He has since had a successful business career.
    "Today starts the long and arduous task of repairing," Barak said in his victory speech.
    "In days of fear, lack of confidence and tireless feelings of lack of leadership, the Labour party must stand at the head of the democratic alternative of the state of Israel. In order to lead the country we must unify our forces," said Barak, who will replace the present Labour leader, Defence Minister Amir Peretz.
    "I commit myself to invest all my energy and knowledge to strengthen the defence establishment and the army and to return Israel's sense of deterrence and defeat".
    He has signalled he may give Olmert breathing space, at least until the commission on the Lebanon war issues a final report due in August.
    Barak is more popular among voters than Olmert, whose popularity has plummeted to single digits.
    In the coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv, some residents voiced hope Barak would take over as a prime minister while others suggested he would fail like he did in the past.
    "Barak deserves a second chance, he took the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) out of Lebanon and he is very experienced. I think the left wing needs somebody like him," said a Tel Aviv resident.
    "He's going to win inside the Labour but I believe he's going to fail outside which is quite sad ," added another.
    "I think Barak is the right answer from the peace group that he will be our candidate against Bibi Netanyahu," said a young resident of Tel Aviv.
    Labour will hold a key cabinet post in the coalition government, probably defence minister in place of Peretz, defeated in the first round.
    Ayalon, a former head of the navy who went on to become the head of the Shin Bet internal security service until his retirement in 2000, said he would respect the outcome of the vote but did not immediately acknowledge defeat.
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