2024 Israeli Labor Party Leadership Election

Labor entered the leadership contest after its Knesset representation had declined from seven seats under Merav Michaeli to four in the November 2022 election, its weakest electoral showing to that point.[5][4] The party's political orientation was social democratic, left-of-center, pro-secular, and Zionist.[6]

On December 7, 2023, Michaeli announced that she would not lead Labor in the next election and would leave politics, saying that Israel needed a new beginning and that elections should take place in 2024.[1] She also said she would not seek a place on Labor's list for the next Knesset election and accepted responsibility for the party's situation.[7] Her initial intention was to bring forward the leadership primary to take place in four months, expressing the hope that the war would have ended and the hostages would have returned by then.[7] She said the timetable could be accelerated further if elections were held earlier and pledged to help transfer the leadership.[7]

The party subsequently set May 28 as the date of the primary.[8] Its executive approved an election plan for submission to the party convention that shortened membership qualifying periods, with the stated aim of maximizing participation by new members and candidates.[8] The published deadlines were May 1 for joining the party in order to stand, May 5 for declaring a candidacy, and May 18 for joining in order to vote.[8]

Four candidates entered the contest: Yair Golan, longtime Labor activist Azi Nagar, online-gambling businessman Avi Shaked, and attorney and anti-corruption activist Itai Leshem.[1][4] Golan, the expected front-runner, had previously served as a Meretz Knesset member and as deputy chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces.[1] He was a 62-year-old reserve general at the time of the election.[4] His term as deputy chief of staff ran from 2014 to 2017; he subsequently served in the Knesset with the Democratic Union alliance in 2019–2020 and with Meretz in 2020–2022.[6]

Golan campaigned on bringing left-wing parties and members of the protest movement into a shared political framework.[3] His stated aims included removing the government, changing Labor and its institutions, and bringing together Labor members, former Meretz members, and people associated with the Kaplan protest movement.[3]

A legal challenge immediately before the primary concerned whether its result would require subsequent approval by a newly elected party convention.[9][10] Following an appeal by party members, the Tel Aviv District Court ordered Labor to elect a new conference within a month of the primary and required that body to approve the result; without approval, another leadership contest would be necessary.[9][10] Labor objected that the order imposed a procedure inconsistent with its constitution and could harm its democratic process.[9] On May 27, the Supreme Court accepted an appeal by Golan and Labor, reversed the lower court's ruling, and determined that the primary would proceed as planned with a final result not subject to convention ratification.[10]

Voting took place on May 28, with 51,747 party members eligible to participate.[11] Members could vote online between 10:00 and 19:00, while an in-person voting site was available at 15 Brodetsky Street in Tel Aviv.[11] The party reported that 20,002 new members had joined since January 2024 and that its membership was divided nearly evenly by gender, with approximately 26,000 men and 25,000 women.[11]

Turnout reached 31,353 members, or 60.6% of those eligible.[2] Golan won 95.15% of the vote, while Shaked received 1.89%, Leshem 1.76%, and Nagar 0.77%; a further 0.43% selected abstention.[2] The result made Golan Labor's leader in 2024.[6]

After the result was announced, Golan said he would immediately work to form a new left-wing alliance. “We have to unite everyone – Labor, Meretz, the protest organizations, those disappointed by other parties,” he said.[4] In his victory speech, he described the proposed political home as liberal, pluralistic, open, and Zionist, and said it should be committed to the values of Israel's Declaration of Independence.[4]

Labor Knesset members Naama Lazimi and Gilad Kariv expressed support after Golan's victory.[1][11] Lazimi characterized the result as a first step toward building a democratic camp capable of bringing positive change to Israeli society and politics.[1] Meretz secretary general Tomer Reznik said his party was open to uniting with Labor, while emphasizing that further discussions would follow the leadership election.[12]

On June 30, 2024, Labor and Meretz announced an agreement to form a party called The Democrats.[5] The new organization was described as a liberal-democratic Zionist party and as a unified party rather than a temporary electoral alliance. The governing bodies of Labor and Meretz approved the union on July 12.[5] Although presented as a unified organization, the merger was initially incomplete in legal and financial terms, and the two parties retained separate corporate and budgetary entities.[5]

The merger implemented the Labor–Meretz component of Golan's campaign pledge to unite the liberal camp.[5][3] It followed the leadership election through a separate agreement and approval process: the May primary selected Labor's leader, while the June announcement and July votes established the new party.[5][2]

Contemporary accounts linked Golan's victory with renewed efforts to consolidate the Zionist left. The merger announced within weeks matched the Labor–Meretz component of his campaign, while his broader project also included protest organizations and voters dissatisfied with other parties.[5][4]

The contest also took place amid disagreement over the preceding leadership's electoral strategy. Some Labor figures regarded Michaeli's refusal to join Meretz before the 2022 election as a failure that helped keep Meretz out of the Knesset; this remained a political assessment rather than an independently established causal finding.[4]

A separate controversy concerned Golan's earlier military career. In a 2016 speech, he drew parallels between contemporary Israeli trends and troubling processes in Europe before the Holocaust. The speech drew controversy, and he was not selected as IDF chief of staff in 2018.[12]