2018 Meretz leadership election

An election was held for the leadership of the Meretz party on 22 March 2018. It saw the election of Tamar Zandberg.

2018 Meretz leadership election

← 2015 22 March 2018 2019 →
~30,000 party members simple majority of votes needed to win
Turnout	53.69%
Candidate Tamar Zandberg Avi Buskila Party Meretz Meretz Popular vote 12,112 4,851 Percentage 71.21% 28.52%
Meretz leader before election Zehava Galon Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg

Background

The vote was open to party members. Party membership increased by 12,000, to roughly 30,000, ahead of the vote.^[1] Outgoing leader Galon wanted the election to use an open primary-style system in which any Israeli citizen could vote, regardless of party registration. The party wound up instead adopting a compromise presented by Tamar Zandberg, which saw the party allow anyone to register as a party member up to a month before the leadership election and the party's slate-selection primary, and be allowed to participate in those elections.^[2]

Candidates

On ballot

• Avi Buskila, former secretary general of Peace Now^[3]
• David Cashni
• Ofir Paz
• Tamar Zandberg, member of the Knesset since 2013^[4]

Withdrawn

• Zehava Galon, incumbent leader of Meretz^[5]
• Avi Dabush endorsed Zandberg^[6]
• Ilan Gilon, member of the Knesset (1999–2003; since 2009) endorsed Zandberg^[5][7]
• Emri Kalman, endorsed Buskila^{[citation needed]}
• David Neve^{[citation needed]}

Results

The party reported that 53.69% of eligible voters participated in the election.^[8] The party reported that 130 polling stations across Israel were utilized for the vote.^[8]

2018 Meretz leadership election^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Meretz	Tamar Zandberg	12,112	71.21
	Meretz	Avi Buskila	4,851	28.52
	Meretz	David Cashni	23	0.14
	Meretz	Ofir Paz	22	0.13
Turnout			17,008	53.69