Second round for Labor leadership race

And then there were two: The Labor Party primaries saw none of the four candidates win more than 40% of the votes, leaving MKs Shelly Yacimovich and Amir Peretz to fight for the party's chairmanship,

Peretz received 31% of the votes, while Yacimovich garnered 32%. MK Yitzhak Hertzog received 25% of the votes and former Labor Chairman Amram Mitzna all but crashed with only 12% of the votes.

Yacimovich and Peretz now have one week to try to sway the votes of Hertzog and Mitzna's supporters in their way, as Labor voters will head to the ballots once again, next Wednesday.

Late Monday night, Yacimovich said she would seek the two's endorsement, "To forge a new way (for Labor)." Peretz said he would do the same, saying both were his "partners on the path to social justice."

Both Peretz and Yacimovich went out of their way to thank and compliment Mitzna and Hertzog: "This has been a long campaign, and not all of it was harmonious, but it has brought Labor back to the heart of things." Yacimovich said.

"There are no ideological differences between us. We share a vision and now we can focus on it, instead of on pummeling each other."

Peretz, for his part, congratulated Mitzna and Hertzog for "seeing the race through. Amram Mitzna stuck by his beliefs all throughout and Yitzhak Hertzog has proven to have a substantial powerbase within the party."

Amram Mitzna, who suffered a political blow in the race said: "I respect the apparent election results and as I promised, I will stand with whoever is elected to the role of party chairman." 

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