50,000 Israeli Labor party members are heading to the polls today to vote for a new chairman of the party. There are seven candidates in the running for what once was Israel’s leading and largest left wing political party, which now barely warm up the back benches of the Knesset.
Yesh Atid, also in the opposition, has since become the leading left wing party in Israel.
The winner will need to get at least 40% of the votes, and if that doesn’t happen, there will be a run-off vote next week between the two top candidates.
The candidates include current chairman Yitzchak Herzog, former chairman Amir Peretz, multi-millionaire Erel Margalit, Omer Bar-Lev, Avi Gabbay (who jumped ship from Kulanu to the Labor party), Avner Ben-Zaken and Hod Kruvi.
Haredi candidate Dina Dayan withdrew her candidacy and announced her support for Herzog.
No sitting chairman has won the top job twice in a row in decades, so if Herzog does manage to keep his seat, that will be a groundbreaking event within the party that has chewed up and spit out eleven leaders since Rabin.
Herzog, Peretz and Margalit are considered the front-runners for the position.