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Israeli Labor Party Delays Declaration of Primaries' Winner
The Israeli Labor party's Internal Appeals Court early Friday morning agreed to publish the final results of Tuesday's primaries, but stopped short of naming a winner until all appeals against voter fraud in the primaries have been investigated.
According to the Labor party's Election Supervision Committee, Israeli Knesset (parliament) Speaker Avraham Burg received 50.2 percent of all the ballots, defeating Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, who got 48.5 percent of the ballots, by a slim margin of 1.7 percentage points, or 1,177 votes.
Over 70,000 Israeli Laborites attended Tuesday's voting, with some of them casting abstention votes.
Burg, representing the moderate wing of the party, had already delivered a victory speech on Thursday, urging the party to start rebuilding party's structure immediately.
"There is a new party, that is civil, equal and chasing peace," Burg said in the speech, adding that the Labor Party "is now returning to the values of justice and peace" and will not be " number two to the Likud," a hawkish faction led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Lawyers representing Burg argued that according to the party's constitution, the Internal Appeals Court was obligated to appoint Burg party chairman immediately.
Labor's Election Supervision Committee, dominated by Burg's supporters, also said on Thursday that a decision banning the announcement of the winner of the primaries was illegal.
The court, however, rejected the argument early Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Ben Eliezer, representing the hawkish wing of the party, denied accepting the result as an official result.
His staff Thursday published affidavits, tape recordings and other documentation which they said could prove that Burg was involved in massive voter fraud in the Israeli Druze sectors, one of Burg's strongholds.
In response, Burg's campaign team also published evidence and testimonies to support its argument that Ben Eliezer's staff were involved in voter fraud.
Without mentioning his rival by name, Burg attacked the appeal by Ben Eliezer regarding the election results as an attempt "to destroy the Labor party from within."
The court recommended that both sides ask the police to launch a criminal investigation into the case, if they believe that their own evidence could stand.
Effi Stenzler, head of the Election Supervision Committee, said Thursday that in his opinion, a re-count of all the ballots in the primaries would be the most practical way to determine the winner.
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