Elections held yesterday by a newly merged trade union indicated that Premier Golda Meir’s Labor Alignment continues to hold a decisive margin over all other factions. Trade union elections in Israel are regarded as indicators of national trends, just as local elections in the United States are sometimes interpreted as having national implications. The outcome of the first elections held by the new Metal, Electrical and Electronics Workers Union reflected the current distribution of seats in the governing councils of Histadrut, Israel’s national labor federation. Heavy rains and winds held down balloting to just over 50 percent of the 67,000 eligible voters. The Labor Alignment emerged with 66 percent; the opposition Gahal faction with 16.8; Hapoel Hamizrachi, 8.6; Independent Liberals, 3.5; the Sneh Communists, 1.5; the pro-Moscow Rakach Communists, less than one percent, and Poale Agudat Israel 2.8 percent. The Rakach Communists lost a few points which were picked up by the Labor Alignment.
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