Official results in the Labour party primaries were tallied and publicized last night. Ehud Barak won a decisive victory, sweeping 51% of the vote.
Yossi Beilin received 29% of the vote, while Shlomo Ben-Ami received 14% and Efraim Sneh 6%.
In his acceptance speech, new Labour Party leader Barak, who sees himself as the heir of late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, called on party members to unite in the upcoming battle for the government. Outgoing party chair Shimon Peres called Barak to congratulate him, pledging to stand behind Barak and assist him "all the way".
Ben-Ami, who achieved impressive results considering how recently he got involved in party politics, called on Barak to include him in the battle against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I can bring votes from Netanyahu's strongholds back to the Labour party."
(Tues. 10:30 pm) Channel 1 Exit Poll: Barak - 57%; Channel 2: 56%
Labour party polling places closed at 10:00 pm this evening (Tuesday) and both Channel 1 and Channel 2 broadcast the results of their exit polls.
The Channel 1 poll showed Ehud Barak taking a 57% majority, Yossi Beilin at 28%, Shlomo Ben-Ami at 11% and Efraim Sneh at 4%.
Channel 2 broadcast very similar results, with a decisive win for Barak at 56%. The Second Channel's poll did show slightly different results for the other three candidates, with Beilin taking 26%, Ben-Ami at 11% and Sneh at 7%.
(Tues. 6:00 pm) Labour Party Elects Chairman Today
Casting a pall upon the Labour party’s primaries celebration have been complaints of pressures and of election propaganda being waged in the area of the polling-booths. About half the 662 polling stations were opened at 10 o’clock this morning and the remainder at noon.
The Labour Party’s central elections committee reported that all polling stations were duly opened. However, a short time after the stations opened, the first complaint arrived, from Shlomo Ben-Ami’s HQ. MK Yossi Beilin’s supporters, it said, were putting pressure on Histadrut workers in the Arab sector. Members of Beilin’s HQ, the complaint said, had telephoned Arab-sector Histadrut employees threatening them with dismissal if they failed to vote for Beilin.
The elections committee, headed by Eli Dayan, found no evidence that any such thing had happened. Beilin’s HQ denied the charges.
By noon, Beilin’s HQ had filed a complaint with the elections committee, calling for polling stations in Givatayim and Rosh Ha'ayin to be disqualified, because Ehud Barak’s HQ had been conducting propaganda there. Barak’s HQ is worried that the other candidates may benefit from what could prove to be a low voter turn-out.
MK Barak expressed the hope that voting percentages would be high, so that the will of most party members would find expression.
He once more promised to establish a broad leadership, comprising all four candidates, working in co-operation to unseat the Netanyahu government.
Shlomo Ben-Ami, who is hoping to emerge as the triumphant dark horse, included Kiryat Shmoneh in his campaign trail, whereas the others concentrated mainly on the major, central towns.
MK Shimon Peres went to the polls this afternoon Ramat-Aviv. He refused to say who got his vote, emphasising that he had no intention of retiring and would go on working vigorously to promote peace.
At ten o’clock this evening, the two television channels will report the results of the straw poll and, an hour later, the real results will start to reach the central elections committee. Not before the small hours, it seems, will be election results finally be known.
To win party leadership, a candidate must poll at least 40% of all votes. If a second round is necessitated, it will take place in two weeks time.