The intense rivalry within the Labor Party between Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Allon as to which of them would head the party’s list in the next national election for Premier ended last night when the party’s central committee voted overwhelmingly for Peres to head the list.
In a jubilant speech after the vote, Peres, who is the party’s chairman, said he was imbued with a renewed confidence. “There is no longer any internal (party) rivalry. Our rival is the Likud and only the Likud.” The 721 central committee members who participated in the weekend conference, the largest number in attendance in the party’s history, cost 457 votes for Peres, 224 against and 40 abstained. The surprise in the vote was not that Peres, who run uncontested, received approval to head the list but the number that voted against him.
Rabin is bitterly opposed to Peres and has stated on various occasions that he does not regard Peres as suitable to be Premier. Rabin had expressed support for Allon who, after yesterday’s election, declared again that he would campaign for the leadership of the party at the party’s convention next June. Allon claimed that those who voted against Peres had in effect, registered support for him. During the weekend conclave all the speakers, including Rabin and Allon, stressed the need for a unified party in order to win the voters’ confidence and to achieve an electoral victory over the Likud.
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