Record number of candidates running in Meretz primary

Ten people are running for Meretz's top five slots, a distinction the candidates choose themselves.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Zahava Gal-On (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Zahava Gal-On
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Meretz has more primary candidates than ever before – 25 – running for slots in its January 19 primary.
Zehava Gal-On is running unopposed for the party’s leadership, and she is expected to be authorized at a central committee meeting on January 4.
Ten people are running for Meretz’s top five slots – a distinction the candidates choose themselves – including current MKs Tamar Zandberg, Ilan Gilon, Nitzan Horowitz, Michal Rosin and Issawi Freij – the only Israeli Arab running for the list.
The other top candidates are Ron Shavit, a history professor, Gaby Lasky, an attorney, Uri Zaky, former US director of B’Tselem, Mossi Raz and Avshalom Vilan, former MKs.
Zandberg and Zaky are a longterm couple and live together, though they are not married. There have been three married couples who were MKs in Israel’s history.
The left-wing party does not have an open primary; instead its 16,100 members elected 1,000 central committee members Sunday night who will vote on the party’s Knesset list in January.
Meretz Secretary-General Dror Morag said the record number of new members and primary candidates indicates people “want a revolution and want a big, significant Meretz in the next government.”
“I am convinced that on March 17 [Election Day] we will fulfill both wishes,” Morag stated. “I wish luck to all the candidates and I am sure that these are the forces that will form the best and highest-quality list in the election.”