January 29, 2003

Labor suffers worst defeat ever

By Matthew Gutman

After what is unanimously being considered a crushing defeat in yesterday's election, the Labor Party conceded its loss but chose to focus on rebuilding its shattered ranks rather than backstabbing.

With approximately 18 mandates, Labor came out worse than recent polls predicted after it was riven by efforts to unseat party leader Amram Mitzna in recent weeks.

With Shimon Peres and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer looking on glumly, a defiant Mitzna promised to lead Labor in "the fight for the future of the country" and brushed aside any initial Likud overtures to woo Labor into the coalition.

"It's not shameful to be in the opposition.... I don't intend to join Sharon but to unseat him," said Mitzna to the cheers of a disappointed crowd at Labor headquarters in Tel Aviv's Hatikva quarter.

Mitzna added, "The voter cast his ballot and we accept his choice, even if the results are painful."

But even before the polls came in, negative preliminary polls cast a pallor over the Labor meeting. Activists and MKs stood in silence dreading the expected news.

Knesset candidate Danny Yatom said: "Now is the time for us to take a new road leading us into the opposition, and once there we will build ourselves up and pave the way for the future."

Asked if he expects intraparty purges, he said now is not the time for disunity. The activists singing and dancing, and most of the MKs, seem to bear out polls earlier in the week indicating that up to 78% of Labor voters will support Mitzna regardless of the outcome of the elections. Posters in the cramped auditorium read: "Peace will prevail" and "Mitzna, we're with you till the end."

While most MKs tried to close ranks around Mitzna, there were some mutinous undertones. Zvi Ushpiz, one of Ben-Eliezer's chief consultants, blasted Labor's support of Mitzna, saying they knew in July it would be a strategic mistake to elect him.

"The public at large was never willing to accept Labor negotiating with Arafat and they demanded a unity government," he said.

Former minister Dalia Itzik responded that "this will not be a night of long knives, it won't even be a night of pen knives." However, asked if Labor would consider changing its leadership in the near future, she said, "After thorough investigating we will not be embarrassed to change leadership."

Grassroots activists working all day at the polling stations were highly critical of some of their own whom they called "lazy" and did not work as they should have to get out the vote.

One party activist blamed most of the trouble on Ben-Eliezer, saying, "He didn't shoot us in the foot, he shot us in the head."

The mood was incredibly tense even before the 10 p.m. initial surveys revealed a crushing blow to Labor, and already there was talk behind the scenes about post-election backstabbing and perhaps some sort of intraparty purges.

The air was silent except for the hum of camera teams and journalists; the candidates themselves seemed almost stricken.

A taciturn MK Michael Melchior said that things did not look good, but denied that the knives were already being drawn.

Mostly, party members and activists were gearing up for the next elections, which they expect will come in less than a year.

Others tried to express optimism. Former cabinet secretary and Labor party candidate Isaac Herzog said, "There are at least three weeks to go before the final numbers are tallied, and everything is still open."

"There will be a total smokescreen" until the final numbers are in, Herzog said. According to Labor's constitution, a candidate must run for intraparty reelection within 14 months of losing national Knesset elections.

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