The 1997 Israeli Labor Party leadership election was held on 3 June 1997 to elect the leader of the Israeli Labor Party. It saw the election of

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( he-a, אֵהוּד בָּרָק, Ehud_barak.ogg, link=yes, born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli general and politician who served as the tenth prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until Jan ...

Background

The leadership vote took place a year after

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...

' narrow defeat in the

1996 Israeli prime ministerial election General elections were held in Israel on 29 May 1996. For the first time, the prime minister was elected on a separate ballot from the remaining members of the Knesset. The elections for Prime Minister resulted in a surprise victory for Benjamin ...

. After this defeat, Peres decided to not run for reelection as party leader."Beloved abroad, polarizing at home, Peres was the peace-making face of Israel"
''The Times of Israel'', September 28, 2016

Results

69.2% of the 164,837 general party members that were eligible to vote participated in the election.

References

{{Reflist Israeli Labor Party leadership elections Labor Party interim leadership election Israeli Labor Party June 1997 events in Asia