Israel's Labor Selects Candidates for January Election

Members of Israel's Labor party went to the polls on Thursday to select candidates for parliament ahead of a January general election.

Polls opened at 10.00 am (0800 GMT) in 70 locations across the country and were due to close 12 hours later, with party leader Shelly Yachimovich to announce official results at 7.00 am (0500 GMT) on Friday, Labor’s website said.

It said that 60,424 registered party members would rank 83 hopefuls competing for what latest polls predicted would be 18 Labor seats in the 120-member Knesset, or parliament.

That would be an improvement on the eight seats Labor currently holds but still a dim shadow of its 1969 heyday, when it had 56 MPs.

The Labor contest comes just five days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud selected its own list of candidates, putting hardliners high up and sidelining moderates.

Commentators said chief contenders for Labor’s number two slot, below Yachimovich, were former union boss Amir Peretz and the soft-spoken Isaac Herzog, son of Israel's sixth president Haim Herzog.

Peretz is enjoying a rise in popularity following the success during eight days of fighting with Gaza militants of the Iron Dome defense system against rocket fire, which Peretz championed during his tenure as defense minister.

Herzog has held several cabinet posts and has been characterized as a talented administrator, but lacking charisma.