Israel: Stage set for early elections

Israel’s new Labour Party leader, union boss Amir Peretz, on yesterday said he will move quickly to pull the party out of the governing coalition, setting the stage for early elections.

Peretz captured the party leadership early yesterday with a shocking victory over party stalwart Shimon Peres in a nationwide primary. The takeover of Labour, a bastion of the European-born elite, by the Moroccan-born Peretz was hailed as a watershed moment in Israeli politics.