2019 Meretz leadership election

2019 Meretz leadership election

27 June 2019

Candidate Nitzan Horowitz Tamar Zandberg Party Meretz Meretz Popular vote 459 383 Percentage 54.51% 45.49%

Meretz leader before election Tamar Zandberg Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz

An election was held for the leadership of the Meretz party on 27 June 2019 at the party's conference. Nitzan Horowitz unseated incumbent leader Tamar Zandberg.

By winning the election, Horowitz became the first openly gay individual to ever lead a party in Israel's Knesset.[1]

Background

Per the rules of the party, if a second Knesset election is held during the term of the party's chairman, the party conference will choose a forum in which they will then hold another leadership election, as well as primaries to select its party list candidates. The election took place ahead of an upcoming legislative election in September. The conference decided to hold the primary internally, with its members voting on candidates.[2]

Unlike in the last leadership election the party had held, in 2019, the vote was only open to the roughly 1,000 members of the party conference.[3]

Results

2019 Meretz leadership election[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Meretz	Nitzan Horowitz	459	54.51
	Meretz	Tamar Zandberg (incumbent)	383	45.49
Total votes			842	100

References

1. "Nitzan Horowitz wins vote to lead left-wing Meretz party". The Times of Israel. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
2. "כישלון לזנדברג: ועידת מרצ תקבע את זהות יו"ר המפלגה ואת הרכב הרשימה לכנסת" [Failure for Zandberg: Meretz committee will pick Party Chairman and Knesset List]. Haaretz הארץ (in Hebrew). 16 June 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
3. Zaken, Danny; Schneider, Tal (27 June 2019). "הורוביץ ניצח את זנדברג בבחירות לראשות מרצ" [Horowitz defeated Zandberg in Meretz leadership election]. Globes (in Hebrew). Retrieved 23 July 2021.