Yaacov Meridor was elected chairman of the national executive of the rightwing Herut party last night in a last minute effort by the central committee to preserve party unity. A new opposition group, led by Tel Aviv attorney Shmuel Tamir, emerged at the party’s annual convention last week to challenge the leadership of Menachem Beigin, who resigned during the convention as party chairman.
Mr. Meridor said he would try to form a new party executive within four weeks but said he was not optimistic about his chances of success. Yohanan Bader, a Herut Member of Parliament, was elected chairman of the central committee.
The two factions waged an intensive campaign in the past few days over election of the new executive chairman, with lobbying continuing until a few minutes before the central committee was convened. Mr. Tamir was asked by several party members to agree not to join the new executive “to help smooth out internal differences” bue he refused.
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