Predictions that the group of leaders in the Mapai Party which is supporting former Premier David Ben-Gurion will not break away from the party to form their own group were made here today in connection with the nomination during the weekend of Premier Levi Eshkol as the party’s candidate for Premier after the forthcoming parliamentary elections this fall.
Mr. Eshkol was nominated to be the next Premier at a meeting of the Central Committee of the Mapai Party held Jointly with the Mapai members in Knesset, Israel’s Parliament. The ballot was secret and he received 179 votes while Ben-Gurion received 103 votes. It was decided in advance that the nominations would be made not by the forthcoming Mapai convention but by the Central committee plus the Mapai faction in Knesset.
Following the vote, which gave Eshkol 63.5 per cent as against Ben-Gurion’s 36.5 per cent, Reuven Barkat, Mapai secretary-general, issued an appeal for party unity. He expressed the hope that “all sections” would abide by it and that Ben-Gurion would regard the decision as the “party’s will.” The vote was preceded by receipt of a letter from the former Premier barring his heading the party list if Eshkol was named as Mapai candidate for Premier. Neither protagonist attended the voting sessions.
Premier Eshkol received news of the vote by telephone while Ben-Gurion was visited by a group of his backers with the information. The Ben-Gurion followers indicated they were satisfied by the fact that the voting showed they had maintained the strength of their faction in the party.
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