Indirect presidential elections were held in Israel on 13 June 2007. The

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with th ...

elected Shimon Peres, a former Prime Minister and a member of the Kadima party. His opponents were Reuven Rivlin, a former Knesset speaker, of the Likud Party, and

Colette Avital Colette Avital ( he, קולט אביטל, born 1 May 1939) is a Romanian- Israeli diplomat and politician. She served as a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party and One Israel between 1999 and 2009. Biography Born in Bucharest, Romania, ...

, of the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

party. After the first round of voting put Peres in a commanding lead, but just short of the absolute majority required for election, Rivlin and Avital bowed out and Peres was elected easily in the second round.

Candidates

The deadline for candidates to announce their intention to run was twenty days before the election, i.e. by 25 May.Knesset panel agrees on June 13 for presidential election
Haaretz, 9 May 2007 Avital was the first Labor candidate to officially announce her intention to run. She gained the backing of former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who at the time was running an ultimately successful campaign to regain the leadership of the Labor Party. However, it appeared that most Labor MKs were likely to back ex-Laborite Shimon Peres, who was then serving as

Vice Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

. Peres, however, was advised not to stand by his campaign adviser, in the belief that he would not win enough votes in a secret ballot, and that a defeat would be bad for his image. This came after the legislation for the "Peres Law", which would replace a secret ballot with an open one, was postponed until after the election by its creator, Kadima's

Yoel Hasson Yoel Hasson ( he, יואל חסון, born 4 April 1972) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Kadima and Hatnuah.Moshe Katsav Moshe Katsav ( he, מֹשֶׁה קַצָּב; born 5 December 1945) is an Israeli former politician who was the eighth President of Israel from 2000 to 2007. He was also a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset and a minister in its cabin ...

by a 63–57 vote in the 2000 presidential election. Nevertheless, Peres was named as Kadima's official candidate on 28 May, and won the support of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the influential spiritual leader of

Shas Shas ( he, ש״ס) is a Haredi religious political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 under the leadership of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until his death in October 2013, it primarily ...

.Yishai tells Peres: Rabbi Ovadia has decided to support you for president
Haaretz, 4 June 2007 Other persons who had been considered as possible candidates included

Dalia Itzik Dalia Itzik ( he, דליה איציק ''Dalya Itsik''; born 20 October 1952) is a former Israeli politician who last served as a member of the Knesset for Kadima. She has previously served in several ministerial positions, and on 4 May 2006 bec ...

( Kadima),

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer Binyamin "Fuad" Ben-Eliezer (, he, בנימין "פואד" בן אליעזר; 12 February 1936 – 28 August 2016) was an Iraqi-born Israeli politician and general. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1984 and 2014, and held several min ...

(

), Rabbi

Yisrael Meir Lau Yisrael Meir Lau ( he, ישראל מאיר לאו; born 1 June 1937) served as the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Israel, and chairman of Yad Vashem. He previously served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1993 to 2003. Biography Early li ...

, and Meir Shamgar. Rabbi Lau had been warned not to run for the post by Labor MK and former journalist

Shelly Yachimovich Shelly Rachel Yachimovich ( he, שלי רחל יחימוביץ׳, born 28 March 1960) is an Israeli politician, who served three terms as the official Leader of the Opposition, a member of the Knesset, and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Def ...

. Yachimovich stated that were Lau to run, "certain stories from the past may arise, including some that have never been publicized."

Results

The election was expected to be a close race between Peres and Rivlin. However, the first-round results left Peres only three votes short of a majority, at which point his opponents conceded the race. Following his election, Peres promptly resigned as Vice Prime Minister, and began his seven-year term as President on 15 July 2007.

References

{{Israeli presidential elections Presidential election

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

Israeli presidential election Shimon Peres

Candidates

Results

See also

References