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Israeli Labor Party primaries

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Since the 1992 Israeli legislative election, the Israeli Labor Party has selected its party lists through primary elections in which party members are eligible to participate. This has been the case in all elections since 1992, with the exceptions of the September 2019 and 2020 legislative elections, in which the party based its party list off of the results of the primary previously held in advance of the April 2019 legislative election.

Labor's practice of using primaries to determine their party list is unusual among parties in Israel.{{cite web |last1=Kenig |first1=Ofer |title=The Labor Party Primary Elections |url=https://en.idi.org.il/articles/33585 |website=en.idi.org.il |publisher=Israeli Democracy Institute |access-date=16 July 2021 |language=he |date=1 February 2021}} In Israel, most parties instead decide their party lists either through a nomination committee or by prerogative of the party leaders.

Background

Before moving to primaries in 1992, the party had previously chosen its party list through a closed process involving party leaders for every election, with the exception of the 1988 Knesset election, for which the party instead used an open process in which 1,267 members of the party's Central Committee selected the list in convention.{{cite web |last1=Brinkley |first1=Joel |title=Vote Pulls Israeli Labor Party to the Left |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/28/world/vote-pulls-israeli-labor-party-to-the-left.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=8 February 2022 |date=28 May 1988}}

1992

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{{see also|1992 Israeli legislative election}}

108,347 party members voted in the 1992 primary, marking 70.10% turnout.

1996

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{{see also|1996 Israeli legislative election}}

194,788 party members voted in the 1996 primary, marking 74.60% turnout.

1999

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{{see also|1999 Israeli legislative election}}

101,087 party members voted in the 1999 primary, marking 62.00% turnout.

2002

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{{see also|2003 Israeli legislative election}}

58,783 party members voted in the 2002 primary, marking 53.00% turnout.

2006

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{{see also|2006 Israeli legislative election}}

68,331 party members voted in the 2006 primary, marking 58.40% turnout.

2008

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{{see also|2009 Israeli legislative election|Party lists for the 2009 Israeli legislative election#Labor}}

31,789 party members voted in the 2008 primary, marking 53.90% turnout.

2012

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{{see also|2013 Israeli legislative election}}

35,035 party members voted in the 2012 primary, marking 58.00% turnout.

The order that the top candidates finished in were as follows:{{cite web |title=Full results of Labor Party primaries |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-results-of-labor-party-primaries/ |website=www.timesofisrael.com |access-date=27 July 2021 |date=30 November 2012}}

  1. Shelly Yachimovich
  2. Isaac Herzog
  3. Amir Peretz
  4. Eitan Cabel
  5. Merav Michaeli
  6. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
  7. Hilik Bar
  8. Omer Bar-Lev
  9. Stav Shaffir
  10. Avishay Braverman
  11. Erel Margalit
  12. Itzik Shmuli
  13. Mickey Rosenthal
  14. Michal Biran
  15. Nachman Shai
  16. Moshe Mizrahi
  17. Danny Atar
  18. Raleb Majadele
  19. Nadia Hilou
  20. Nino Abesadze
  21. Yona Yahav
  22. Daniel Ben-Simon
  23. Ofer Kornfeld
  24. Hili Tropper
  25. Yona Prital

2015

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{{see also|2015 Israeli legislative election}}

The party held its primary on 13 January 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/labor-members-kick-off-party-primaries/|title=Labor holds primaries to elect its Knesset slate|work=Times of Israel|date=13 January 2015|access-date=13 January 2015}} 28,742 party members voted in the primary, marking 58.80% turnout.

2019

{{see also|April 2019 Israeli legislative election|September 2019 Israeli legislative election|2020 Israeli legislative election|Party lists for the April 2019 Israeli legislative election#Labor Party|Party lists for the September 2019 Israeli legislative election#Labor-Gesher}}

On 11 February 2011, the Labor Party held its primary in advance of the April 2019 legislative election.{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/despite-plunge-in-polls-israel-s-labor-not-rushing-to-join-meretz-1.6916776|title=Despite Plunge in Polls, Israel's Labor Not Rushing to Join Meretz|author=Lis, Jonathan|work=Haaretz|date=8 February 2019|access-date=8 February 2019}} 33,672 party members voted in the primary (held in advance of the April 2019 legislative election), marking 56.30% turnout.

The party would subsequently use the results of this primary to also choose its party lists for the September 2019 and the 2020 legislative elections, instead of holding new primaries for these elections. Neither of the Knessets elected by the April 2019 nor September 2019 had succeeded in forming a government.

2021

{{see also|2021 Israeli legislative election|Party lists for the 2021 Israeli legislative election#Labor}}

The 2021 primary took place on 1 February less than two weeks after the party's 24 January leadership election.{{cite web |last1=Lis |first1=Jonathan |title=Embattled Israeli Labor Party sets date for primary election against leader's wishes |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-embattled-israeli-labor-party-sets-date-for-primary-election-against-leader-s-wishes-1.9434995 |website=Haaretz.com |access-date=16 July 2021 |language=en |date=8 Jan 2021}} 18,106 party members voted in the primary, marking a turnout of roughly 40%.{{cite web |last1=Wootliff |first1=Raoul |title=Ex-commando, social activist, Reform rabbi take top slots in Labor primary |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-general-social-activist-reform-rabbi-take-top-slots-in-labor-primary/ |website=www.timesofisrael.com |publisher=Times of Israel |access-date=16 July 2021 |date=2 February 2021}}

The primary had originally been cancelled after the party voted at its November 2020 convention 66% to 33% to have the 3,800 activists eligible to vote at the party's convention select the nominees instead of the party's general membership, a move orchestrated by then-Labor Party chairman Amir Peretz.{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Shmuel |title=Labor Party Leader Peretz Eliminates Primaries {{!}} Hamodia.com |url=https://hamodia.com/2020/11/29/labor-party-leader-peretz-eliminates-primaries/ |website=Hamodia |access-date=16 July 2021 |language=en |date=29 November 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Hoffman |first1=Gil |title=Israel Elections: Court forces primaries in Labor Party |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/israel-elections-court-forces-primaries-in-labor-party-654115 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |access-date=16 July 2021 |date=3 January 2011}} However, on 3 January 2021, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled that the move to cancel primary was illegal.

In the primary, voters were able to vote for between five and seven individuals from a list of 62 candidates.

2022

The primary for the electoral list to be used in the 2022 Israeli legislative election was held on August 9, 2022. Roughly 57% of the 40,000 eligible voters participated. Most votes were cast digitally, but four physical voting locations were established. The physical voting locations were in Beersheba, Haifa, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv.{{cite web |title=Israel's Labor party primaries: Young MPs in the lead |url=https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/politics/1660044153-israel-primary-election-begins-for-labor-party |website=I24news |access-date=7 November 2022 |language=en |date=August 9, 2022}}

References

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