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Labor MK Merav Michaeli casts her vote for party leader at a polling station in Tel Aviv, on January 24, 2021. (Miriam Alster/ Flash90)
In her first act as Labor leader, MK Merav Michaeli announced Monday that she was pulling the center-left party from the transitional coalition and ordered ministers Amir Peretz and Itzik Shmuli to resign from their cabinet posts.
“The Labor party is leaving the corrupt Netanyahu-Gantz government. I have informed Peretz and Shmuli they must resign the government as soon as possible. Labor is starting anew,” she wrote on Twitter.
There was no immediate comment from Economy Minister Peretz or Welfare Minister Shmuli.
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Blue and White party member Ram Shefa at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 14, 2019 (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Former Blue and White MK Ram Shefa has joined the Labor party and will run in its primaries on February 1.
“Happy and excited to run for the Labor list and join a political home that feels like home,” tweeted Shefa, who last month was part of an exodus of nine lawmakers from Benny Gantz’s Blue and White coalition party ahead of the general elections.
Shefa is expected to resign as head of the Knesset’s Education, Culture, and Sports Committee, following his announcement.
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Labor MK Merav Michaeli casts her vote for party leader at a polling station in Tel Aviv, on January 24, 2021. (Miriam Alster/ Flash90)
MK Merav Michaeli on Sunday won the Labor leadership primaries, taking over the storied center-left party as it faces possible extinction in the March 23 general elections.
Michaeli, the only current Labor lawmaker in the race, finished first with 77 percent of the 9,651 votes cast, out of over 37,000 registered party members.
The runner up was Avi Shaked, an ally of outgoing Labor chief Amir Peretz, who got 19.08% of votes. Gil Beilin, the son of former minister Yossi Beilin, picked up 2.37% of ballots, while five other candidates finished below 1%.