Just six months after announcing that he was joining the party, Avi Gabbay was elected leader of the Labor Party yesterday, beating former leader Amir Peretz in the second round of the leadership election. Gabbay came to Labor after being among the founders of the Kulanu party led by Minster of Finance Moshe Kahlon. Gabbay served as minister of the environment in the current government, before resigning after just one year in protest at the entry of Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Liberman into the government as minister of defense. Gabbay is a former CEO of Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ).
30,916 (58.8%) of the Labor Party's 52,505 members exercised their right to vote yesterday. Avi Gabbay received 52% of the votes.
After the result was announced, Gabbay and Peretz spoke by telephone. Peretz congratulated Gabbay on his victory, and Gabbay told Peretz, "I see you as a main partner in the mission to replace Netanyahu's government."
In a conciliatory victory speech, Gabbay said that the Labor Party had voted for change. He proposed to previous party leader Isaac Herzog, who was ousted in the first round of voting, that he should continue as leader of the opposition in the Knesset (Gabbay is not a Knesset member). Gabbay said the election campaign would start immediately, adding that the government sought to divide the various groups in Israeli society through false divisions, and that he would seek to eliminate these divisions and reunify.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 11, 2017
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