Ehud Barak and Ami Ayalon head off for second round
By GIL HOFFMAN The Jerusalem Post May. 28, 2007 2:23 | Updated May. 29, 2007
4:33
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Former prime minister Ehud Barak and MK Ami Ayalon will face off in a June
12 runoff race to determine who will become Labor Party leader, according to
99.7 percent of the votes, as available at 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

At the time of counting the last votes, Barak led with 35.7 percent of the
vote, followed by Ayalon with 30.7%, Defense Minister Amir Peretz with
22.3%, MK Ophir Paz-Pines 8% and MK Danny Yatom 2.7%.

Barak looked set to defeat Ayalon by some 1,500 votes overall, according to
Labor sources, but neither candidate appeared to have received the 40% of
the vote necessary to win Labor's primary outright and avoid a runoff.

Ami Ayalon said that Barak won because of votes from the Arab sector."The
Arabs elected Barak," he said.

Earlier, an aide to Ayalon said that if the results would be found to be
extremely close, the Ayalon camp would demand an investigation into the
polling stations in Arab communities.

Peretz will play a significant role in deciding who will win the runoff.
Sources close to Peretz said that although it was unlikely he would support
Barak, he would entertain offers from both Barak and Ayalon regarding what
portfolio he would receive. They said the more votes he won in the race, the
higher his asking price would be.

"In politics anything can happen," a Peretz associate said. "Ehud Barak is
not so repulsive that we cannot support him."

Ayalon's and Barak's campaigns expressed faint optimism that final results
would yet crown their candidate the winner without a runoff.

Polls broadcast on Channels 1 and 2 earlier Monday night had predicted
opposite results.

A Dialogue poll conducted by Tel Aviv University Prof. Camille Fuchs for
Channel 1 found that Barak won with 38%, followed by Ayalon with 36%, Peretz
17%, MK Ophir Paz-Pines 7% and MK Danny Yatom 2%.

According to a Ma'agar Muhot poll conducted for Channel 2 by Prof. Yitzhak
Katz, who accurately predicted Peretz's victory in the last race, Ayalon won
with 39%, followed by Barak with 33%, Peretz 19%, Paz-Pines 6% and Yatom 3%.

Barak's campaign staff applauded when the Channel 1 poll results were
announced. Paz-Pines expressed disappointment with the results.

After the polls were broadcast, a source close to Ayalon said any result
would be an accomplishment because the entire party establishment and every
Labor MK except Avishay Braverman worked against Ayalon.

According to preliminary results, Barak won the moshavim and Druse sectors,
Ayalon won the kibbutzim and big cities and Peretz won the Arab sector. Most
of Peretz's support came from poorer towns.

Surprisingly, Ayalon beat Barak in wealthier communities, while Barak was
backed by the middle-class.

Barak won in Kiryat Shmona, Dimona, Acre, Beersheba, Holon and most Arab and
Druse towns.

Ayalon won in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ness Ziona, Hod Hasharon and the
kibbutzim Shefayim, Deganya and Ma'agan, his birthplace.

Peretz won in Lod, Sakhnin, Ashkelon, Eilat, Safed, Bat Yam, Kiryat Gat;
Paz-Pines won in Nesher, Arara, Ma'aleh HaChamisha, Ramat Rachel and
surprisingly, Ma'ale Adumim.

Some 65% of Labor's 103,498 members voted, which was higher than expected.

Turnout was especially high in Labor's largest sector, the kibbutzim.

Ayalon only defeated Barak by some 4% in the kibbutzim after Barak worked
very hard in the sector.

Polling stations in Sderot remained open an extra hour, but observers there
said they remained relatively empty all day. Residents of Sderot and other
communities surrounding the Gaza Strip were permitted to vote in polling
stations throughout the country.

Although campaigns reported irregularities in the Arab and Druse sectors,
party officials said no complaints were reported to Labor's central
elections committee. The most serious incident occurred in Taibe, where
Barak supporters briefly took over a polling station. Order was restored
after police were brought to the scene.

A source close to Ayalon said that if the final results were especially
close, he would appeal the results in several Arab towns to the central
elections committee.

"This was the cleanest and most organized election in the history of the
party," Labor secretary-general Eitan Cabel said. "But we have to wait until
the morning for the official results from every polling station before we
can really know for sure who should be celebrating."

Sources close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he was prepared to work
with whoever wins. They said Olmert's working assumption was that both Barak
and Ayalon would keep Labor in the coalition under his leadership, despite
campaign promises to the contrary.

But officials in the Barak and Ayalon campaigns said their candidate would
not join the government unless Kadima toppled Olmert.

A source close to Ayalon said he would take Labor out of the government
immediately and support it from outside the coalition until Olmert left the
Prime Minister's Office.

Official spokespeople for both candidates said it was too early for such
speculation. Kadima MKs in favor of toppling Olmert said they were
pessimistic that either Barak or Ayalon would take steps to depose the prime
minister, but they had more hope for Ayalon.

"Ayalon would face the knives of the Labor ministers if he tries to topple
Olmert," a Kadima MK who opposes the prime minister said. "That's why I am
not optimistic."

Tovah Lazaroff, Sheera Claire Frenkel and Rebecca Anna Stoil contributed to
this report.