Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid tonight (Thursday) defeated Ram Ben Barak in the primaries held for the leadership of Yesh Atid with a majority of only 52.5%, and a margin of 29 votes. 308 voters supported Lapid, and 279 voted for Ben Barak. These are the first elections for the party’s leadership, Since last time no one submitted their candidacy once morest Lapid.
Ben Barak congratulated Lapid on the victory, saying that “as his number 2, I pledge to do everything so that Yair Lapid will be the next prime minister. We are committed to replacing this bad government as soon as possible. Yesh Atid has proven that it is possible to conduct fair and honorable democratic elections, and this is the beginning of a new way of the party that will promote democratization processes and the transfer of power to party members.”
Yesh Atid’s electoral body includes 721 party representatives, of which 82% voted. The party was particularly surprised by the results, especially in light of the fact that Lapid has chosen the party delegates over the years, with most of them serving as such since their first day in Yesh Atid, and many of whom are considered Lapid’s personal associates.
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Lapid is speaking to the party members, this evening. An official in the party claimed that the vote for Ben Barak was a “dahka” photo: Tomer Appelbaum
Lapid is speaking to the party members, this evening. An official in the party claimed that the vote for Ben Barak was a “dahka” photo: Tomer Appelbaum
Despite the high voter turnout, those around Lapid estimated that the lack of interest in the elections due to both the war and the conscription law storm and the assessment that Lapid would win led to complacency among the party leader’s supporters. Those around Lapid rejected the claims of an expression of lack of confidence on the part of party members, and claimed that the reason for the narrow gap is the explanation that accompanied all the voters in the party that Lapid would win the race, and therefore there is no reason not to vote for Ram Ben Barak. “They voted for Ben Barak as an excuse,” claimed a party official.
The two candidates did not run an extensive campaign for the leadership of the party. However, Ben Barak met with many officials in recent months and tried to convince them to support him. In an interview here B, Ben Barak said that the victory will be a difficult task, among other things, because the party is called “Yesh Atid led by Yair Lapid”. However, he admitted that his path would not be significantly different from Lapid’s. Lapid also shared a video today on social networks and called on his supporters to vote for him. The chairman of Yesh Atid noted that the gap with Ben Barak must be significant: “If we want to come strong to the next elections, it must be a convincing victory, otherwise all our opponents will celebrate us,” he said.
Lapid said at the end of the vote counting that he thanked Ben Barak for “a fair race, without slander, without slander, without vote contractors and without box commanders”, and said that “together with you Yesh Atid showed the State of Israel once more that something else is possible. There is such a thing as a different politics”. He added that “the primaries are over, but our war has only just begun. Because there is no one but us who offers this country a different vision and a different direction.”
The head of the opposition attacked the government and said that it is “responsible for the greatest disaster that has happened to the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and it has one goal, and one goal only: to forget that it happened on their watch. There is no country in the world, not even one, where these people would have remained in their positions for even a day One more”. He added that “2024 is an election year. There will be elections. We will work with all the sane forces, with Bnei Vegadi, with Lieberman, with the left and with the Likudniks who can no longer bear extremism and corruption.”