The workers of the Histadrut Labor Federation reelected Arnon Bar-David by a landslide on Tuesday as the chairman of the powerful Israeli umbrella organization of labor unions.
Bar-David defeated former Histadrut chief Ofer Eini, with 78% of the vote. The vote was an even bigger victory than former Histadrut chief Avi Nissenkorn’s 62.5%-37.5% victory over then-MK Shelly Yacimovich in the last Histadrut race.
Incumbents have won every Histadrut leadership race since 1994.
More than 250,000 union members of some 600,000 eligible voters in 2,000 polling stations across the country cast ballots in the election that was held digitally, a 42.3% turnout.
Bar-David called the victory a vote of confidence from the workers.
“The workers in Israel said in a loud voice that they want leadership that is courageous, responsible, statesmanlike, honest and clean,” he said in his victory speech on Tuesday night.
The workers in Israel said in a loud voice that they want leadership that is courageous, responsible, statesmanlike, honest and clean
Arnon Bar-David
Election race disputes
The race featured plenty of mudslinging and even a libel lawsuit. Eini accused Bar-David of cooperating too much with the government and compromising too much on the level of the increase of the minimum wage, which is gradually being raised to NIS 6,000.
Bar-David lashed out at Eini for “crossing the lines” and advising corporations against workers.He said that “unlike others,” he has served the workers for 30 years and never crossed lines to advise corporations against them.
“Today is a holiday for the workers of the State of Israel and a demonstration of the democracy in the Histadrut,” Ben-David said after he voted at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital. “This election is about ideology, and I am completely convinced that I will once again receive the trust of the voters to continue moving them forward.”