Amir Peretz was ousted as Labor Party chief. Monday’s primary ended in a near draw between former Prime Minister Ehud
Barak and retired admiral Ami Ayalon, neither of whom passed the
threshold of votes – 40 percent – required for an outright win. They
will now face each other in a June 13 runoff.Barak
came out ahead in the first round, with 35.6 percent of votes to
Ayalon’s 30.6 percent. But he is expected to have greater difficulty in drawing
Peretz and his supporters – who accounted for 22.4 percent of votes –
to his side.Both Ayalon, 61, the former Shin Bet security
services chief, and Barak, 65, have said they
will remove Labor from the ruling coalition unless Prime Minister Ehud Olmert steps down or sets a
date for early elections. Polls before the vote had showed Peretz, who was censured for his actions as defense minister by the commission investigating last summer’s Lebanon war, trailing badly.
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