Officials: Barak wins Israeli party race

[oberliner]

JERUSALEM - A former prime minister won the Labor Party primary over a relative political newcomer, party officials from both camps said late Tuesday, in a race between two ex-military officers who both called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to step down.

Although the votes were still being counted, the officials said former Prime Minister Ehud Barak would have a final margin of victory of 6 to 7 percent over Ami Ayalon, a former navy commander. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the tally was still in progress.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070612/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_politics;_ylt=AnSPE59H9ZQStx3sG0kslSWs0NUE

[bemildred]

1. NuttyYahoo is going to kick his ass. nt

[LeftishBrit]

2. I hope not!!! Horrible thought!

I actually prefer Ayalon to Barak; but Barak might have more chance of winning the general election.

[bemildred]

3. Wishful thinking won't get you far in this world. nt

[bemildred]

4. Arabs, kibbutzim to decide today's poll

The two Labor Party leadership candidates, Ami Ayalon and Ehud Barak, and their campaign staff yesterday continued to woo voters from the Arab sector and kibbutzim in last-minute efforts to clinch victory in today's final primary round.

Both candidates spent much of yesterday giving pep talks to their supporters at their respective staff headquarters in Tel Aviv. Ayalon made hundreds of phone calls to registered voters in the kibbutzim, where he achieved a 3.5 percent margin over Barak in last month's first round vote.

However, since then, Ayalon has sided with incumbent party chairman Amir Peretz, who failed to reach the final round, and maintains little support among kibbutzim.

Senior officials among Ayalon's supporters reported a clear trend of registered voters "returning home" to back the candidate. Education Minister Yuli Tamir and MK Avishai Braverman have been making great efforts at wooing the kibbutzniks.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/869785.html

[liberalpragmatist]

5. Really unfortunate

Polls show that Labor under Barak does far worse than it would do under Ayalon.

And Ayalon is the more peacenik candidate, openly calling for a resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians and final status talks, versus Barak who wants to basically maintain the status quo.

Ayalon also was going to insist that the coalition drop Olmert as leader; Barak has made no such promise and has in fact indicated that he will back Olmert.

All in all a very disappointing result. I really worry that if new elections are held, Netanyahu now will sweep them. And he's the last guy anyone should want in power in Israel.

[richards1052]

6. Barak failed once as PM, now he'll try to regain that old magic...

UGH! He failed once. Now Labor has given him a mandate to fail again. But what's so strange about that? Most of their previous leaders over the past 10 yrs including Shimon Peres have wilted under the pressure of electoral campaigns.

Ayalon may have been less well tested. But given that Barak has already mucked it up you'd think Labor would want to try someone new. I've heard Ayalon speak w. Sari Nusseibeh & they both were extraordinarily persuasive. I would've felt entirely comfortable w. Ayalon leading Labor or as PM.

[eyl]

7. Great

so come the next election, it looks like we'll have a choice between arguably the worst two former PMs in our history.

[sabbat hunter]

8. who else is out there

that would be better as PM? i think if i had to choose between netty and barak i would choose barak.

at least he is willing to negotiate with the palestinian leadership.

[oberliner]

9. Do you think Barak can beat Bibi?

Here's a recent quote:

"Bibi is a bad man," Barak responded. "He steps on people. I am not like that."

[liberalpragmatist]

10. Ayalon would have been much better

From Kadima, Tzipi Livni would be much better.

You're right that Barak would be vastly preferable to Netanyahu (and to Olmert). But it's truly disappointing that Barak won. Polls show Labor doing much worse under Barak than under Ayalon (who was the more liberal candidate too!). With Ayalon, there would be a very good chance that Labor and Kadima would together outpoll Likud and that they could form a government. Now the odds are that Netanyahu and Likud will do far better and that Bibi will be back.

[eyl]

11. I'd like to see Livni in the running n/t

[oberliner]

12. Olmert appoints Barak defense minister

The government unanimously approved the appointment of newly elected Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak as Israel's next defense minister on Friday.

Former Defense Minister Amir Peretz handed in his resignation and will no longer be part of the government as of Monday evening.

Olmert decided on the appointment in his meeting with Barak Friday morning.

During the meeting, Olmert said he wished to rush the appointment in light of the tense security situation and the collapse of the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3413348,00.html