A leadership election was held by the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party (), commonly known in Israel as HaAvoda (), was a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi (political party), Rafi. Unt ...

on 9 November 2005. Chairman of the

Histadrut Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation () and until 1994 the General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel (, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the m ...

Trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

Amir Peretz Amir Peretz (; born 9 March 1952) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party. A Knesset member almost continuously from 1988 to 2021, he has served as Ministry of Defense (Israel), ...

defeated

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

and incumbent leader of the party

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

Background

In 2001,

special elections A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for the position of

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

took place after the resignation of

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...

. Barak, then the leader of the Labor party, lost to

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon ( ; also known by his diminutive Arik, ; 26 February 192811 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Born in Kfar Malal in Mandatory Palestin ...

, and subsequently retired from political life. he was replaced by

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer Binyamin "Fuad" Ben-Eliezer (, ; 12 February 1936 – 28 August 2016) was an Iraqi-born Israeli politician and general. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1984 and 2014, and held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Indust ...

, who was subsequently defeated by

Amram Mitzna Amram Mitzna (; born 20 February 1945) is an Israeli politician and former general in the IDF. He is a former mayor of Haifa (1993–2003) and Yeruham (2005–2010) and led the Labor Party from 2002 to 2003. In 2012 he joined Hatnuah. Youth, e ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. Mitzna resigned the next year due to the party's poor performance in the 2003 election. as a result of Mitzna's resignation, the decision was made to appoint party veteran

as interim leader in June 2003, with the intent that he would serve for one year. In July 2003, members of the Labor Party began talks regarding precise primary dates.

and his allies wanted to establish a committee to prepare for internal elections, to be held in June 2004, which the party's internal bureau rejected. In September, Peres began negotiations with the One Nation party, led by

, with the hopes of fielding a

joint list The Joint List (, ''al-Qa'imah al-Mushtarakah'', , ''HaReshima HaMeshutefet'') was a political alliance of four of the Arab-Israeli, Arab-majority political parties in Israel: Hadash, Balad (political party), Balad, the United Arab List and Ta' ...

in the next election. in November, several members of the party, including

Dalia Itzik Dalia Itzik ( ''Dalya Itsik''; born 20 October 1952) is an Israeli former politician who last served as a member of the Knesset for Kadima. She has previously served in several ministerial positions, and on 4 May 2006 became the first female spe ...

and

Avraham Burg Abraham "Avrum" Burg (; born 19 January 1955) is an Israeli author, politician and businessman. He was a member of the Knesset, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Speaker of the Knesset, and Interim President of Israel. He was the first ...

, proposed the extension of Peres's term by at least one year. Ben-Eliezer initially opposed both motions, and accused Peres of selling out the party, but reached an agreement with Peres to lengthen his term by a year in February 2004. Labor reached an agreement with One Nation in May 2004, despite Ben-Eliezer's opposition. the two parties later merged in 2005. In December 2004, the party's central committee scheduled the upcoming primary for June 2005. Peretz announced his intention to run on 12 June. the following month, Labor joined the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

of Ariel Sharon. with Peres becoming the

Vice Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

. on 26 June 2005, two days before the scheduled primary date, the primary was delayed following the discovery of potential fraud in a recently conducted party census. following the postponement, Barak dropped out of the race and endorsed Peres on 11 September. Member of the Knesset

Matan Vilnai Matan Vilnai (; born 20 May 1944) is an Israeli politician and a former major general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). A former Knesset member and government minister, he was appointed ambassador to China in 2012. Since 2017 Vilnai serves as ...

announced his intention to run on 10 October. on 16 October, the Central Committee set the primary date on 9 November. Vilnai dropped out of the race on 6 November after Peres promised to appoint him

Minister of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

in a labor-led government.

Campaign

Peretz campaigned on a desire to return labor to its

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

roots, opposing free market reforms and budgetary cuts which he argued hurt Israel's poor. In addition, he campaigned for his party's withdrawal from the

at the time. Peres campaigned on his political experience, portraying himself as a calm and civil candidate. Before dropping out on 11 September, Barak campaigned against the government of the time. He argued that it was incapable of protecting citizens and vowed to back law enforcement if elected. Barak received endorsements from former leader

, members of the Knesset

Avraham Shochat Avraham Shochat (; 14 June 1936 – 28 February 2024) was an Israeli politician who twice served as Minister of Finance. Shochat was mayor of Arad for 20 years. Biography Avraham ("Beiga") Shochat was born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era. ...

and

Danny Yatom Danny Yatom (; born 15 March 1945) is a former Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Labor. In 1996–1998, Yatom was head of the Mossad and between 1999 and 2001, he served as Prime Minister Ehud Barak's Chief Of Staff an ...

, and Minister of Environmental Protection

Shalom Simhon Shalom Simhon (; born 7 December 1956) is an Israeli politician and former member of the Knesset for Independence and the Labor Party. He previously served as the Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour and Minister of Minorities in the Israe ...

Candidates

- former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, incumbent leader of the Labor Party,

. *

- chairman of the

Member of the Knesset Lists of Knesset members cover members of the Knesset of Israel. They are organized by session, by ethnicity and by position. By session * List of members of the first Knesset (1949–51) * List of members of the second Knesset (1951–55) * ...

, former leader of the One Nation party. *

- Minister of National Infrastructure, former

, former leader of the Labor Party.

Withdrawn

. *

- former

Results

Aftermath

Peres initially claimed that widespread fraud might have taken place during the primary but met with Peretz and conceded on 11 November. he left the labor party on 30 November to join the newly-formed

Kadima Kadima () was a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely following the implementation of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan in August 2005, and was soon ...

party, and was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population ch ...

President of Israel The president of the State of Israel (, or ) is the head of state of Israel. The president is mostly, though not entirely, ceremonial; actual executive power is vested in the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet led by the Prime Minister of Israel, pr ...

in 2007. Peretz and the Labor party went on to contest the 2006 election, in which they came in second and won 19 seats, achieving no net change in seats. Peretz was later defeated for re-election as leader of the Labor Party in 2007 by Ehud Barak.

References

{{Political party leadership elections in Israel Labor Party leadership election Israeli Labor Party leadership elections Israeli Labor Party leadership election Israeli Labor Party leadership election Amir Peretz Shimon Peres Ehud Barak