MK Merav Michaeli won the Labor party’s internal leadership election Sunday, making her the replacement for outgoing party chairman Amir Peretz. A total of 9,561 Labor central committee members cast their ballots Sunday, out of a total of some 37,000 eligible members for a turnout rate of just 26%. Michaeli received 77.5% of the vote, easily defeating the six rival candidates, including Avi Shaked, Yitzhak Taym, Gil Beilin, Navah Katz, David Landsman, and Ofer Segman. Once she officially assumes the title of party chairwoman, Michaeli is expected to seek out alliances with other left-wing parties, including the HaYisraeli (The Israelis) party of Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai. “Merav is an important leader,” said Huldai. “We will immediately initiate talks aimed at forming a political home for the entire center-left. We will unite in order to defeat Netanyahu and bring change to the State of Israel. That’s what the public expects of us and that’s what we’ll do.”
