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| Meretz leader Zahava Gal-On after winning a sweeping victory in the party's leadership primary in February 2012 (photo credit: Gideon Markowicz/Flash90) |
Latest polls predict 5-6 mandates for the left-wing party, doubling its current strength
Meretz party members are set to convene on Sunday afternoon in Tel Aviv to select their candidates for the January Knesset elections. Seventeen candidates are vying for a place on the list, while the latest polls give the party an estimated five or six seats in the next Knesset. Meretz currently has three seats.
The primary candidates include former MKs Avshalom Vilan and Mossi Raz; current Meretz MKs Nitzan Horowitz and Ilan Gilon; Tel Aviv City Council member Tamar Zandberg; the former president of the Conservative movement in Israel, Rabbi Ehud Bandel; accountant Issawi Freij; and rape crisis center director Michal Rozin.
Meretz chairwoman Zahava Gal-on is guaranteed the top spot. Party rules also stipulate that half the final candidates must be women. Results are expected by 10 p.m. Sunday.
