2019 Israeli Labor Party Leadership Election

Once the dominant force in Israeli politics, the Labor Party had led successive governments from 1949 to 1977 and remained a major political actor for decades afterward.[1] By April 2019, however, the party's standing had collapsed. In the April 9, 2019 election, Labor won only six Knesset seats and 4.43% of the national vote — 190,870 ballots — its worst showing in party history.[2] The party had won 24 seats as part of the Zionist Union in 2015 and 44 seats in 1992.[1][3]

The Institute for National Security Studies interpreted the result as part of a broader center-left shift toward Blue and White, with voters choosing the centrist alliance strategically because they believed it offered the only plausible route to replacing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[4] Blue and White and Likud each won 35 seats in that election.[2]

Following the defeat, Avi Gabbay announced that he would step down as leader and leave politics, accepting responsibility for the party's crisis while also criticizing the continued presence of former party leaders in the Knesset, which he said had fueled internal conflicts.[5][6] With a second national election scheduled for September 2019, Labor urgently needed new leadership.

Three Knesset members competed in the primary: Amir Peretz, Stav Shaffir, and Itzik Shmuli.[7]

Peretz was the most experienced candidate, having previously led Labor from 2005 to 2007 and served as both defense minister and environment minister.[8] The 2019 contest was his fifth campaign for the party leadership; he had won in 2005, lost the leadership to Ehud Barak in 2007, and subsequently lost leadership contests to Shelly Yachimovich in 2011 and Avi Gabbay in 2017.[9] He presented himself as a social-policy advocate, citing his tenure as Histadrut chair, his opposition to the employment of contract workers, and a 1999 initiative to raise the minimum wage to $1,000.[10]

Shaffir and Shmuli were both associated with the major 2011 socioeconomic protests centered on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard and each sought to represent a generational change in Labor's direction.[11] On the eve of the primary, Shmuli proposed that the two use a comprehensive poll of party members to determine which should withdraw and endorse the other, arguing that a split among reform-minded voters would benefit Peretz. Shaffir rejected the proposal, saying that supporters who had joined the party for her were not interested in political deals.[11]

Voting took place on Tuesday, July 2, 2019, at 105 computerized polling sites across the country. Voting was extended by one hour and closed at 10 p.m. after demonstrations by Ethiopian Israelis caused major road blockages, making it harder for some members to reach the polls.[12][13] A brief interruption to the voting websites caused by a Cloudflare server problem was also reported.[13]

Approximately 65,000 party members were eligible to vote.[5] Turnout was approximately 46%, representing about 29,800 to 30,000 voters — the lowest recorded in a Labor primary, compared with roughly 59–60% in the previous primary.[12][7] Party rules required a candidate to receive at least 40% of the vote to win outright and avoid a runoff.[7]

Peretz cleared that threshold, winning approximately 47% of the vote. Shaffir finished second with around 26.9% and Shmuli third with around 26.3%.[12] Exact vote counts vary across published reports. One Calcalist report gave Peretz 13,866 votes, while another gave him 13,898.[7][10] N12 reported 13,559.[14] All three reports agree on the broad margin and outcome.

After victory was confirmed, Peretz called for building a broader center-left bloc ahead of the September election, naming Ehud Barak's new movement and Meretz as potential partners. He also set a campaign goal of winning 15 seats.[9]

After weak April results for both parties, Labor and Gesher agreed to run as a joint slate in the September 2019 national election.[15] Peretz headed the list, with Orly Levy-Abekasis in second place and Itzik Shmuli in third.[2]

The Labor-Gesher slate received 212,782 votes, or 4.80%, in September 2019 and won six seats — the same number Labor had won in April.[2] For the March 2020 election, Labor-Gesher joined Meretz in the Labor-Gesher-Meretz slate, which won seven seats.[1][16]

Peretz made a high-profile public pledge not to join a Netanyahu-led government, shaving off his trademark mustache to underscore the promise. He explained: "I decided to remove my mustache so that all of Israel will understand exactly what I'm saying and will be able to read my lips — I won't sit with Bibi."[16] In 2020, however, he reversed course and led Labor into the Netanyahu-Gantz unity coalition, a decision that angered party members.[16]

Peretz also worked to appeal to Mizrahi voters who normally supported Likud. The Washington Institute reported speculation that Netanyahu might seek to cooperate with the new Labor chief, but explicitly noted that Peretz denied the possibility.[17]

Contemporary interpretation focused on Labor's wider electoral collapse as well as the leadership contest itself. The Institute for National Security Studies argued that the April 2019 shift of center-left voters toward Blue and White reflected strategic voting by people who saw it as the only plausible vehicle for replacing Netanyahu, rather than an expansion of the center bloc.[4]

N12 suggested that low primary turnout and Peretz's support among organized voters may have aided his victory, while noting that many Labor members had voted for Blue and White in April.[14] Published reports differed on exact ballot totals, but consistently placed Peretz near 47% and his two rivals near 27% and 26%.[7][10]