THE Israeli Tourism Minister Mr Uzi Baram, yesterday edged out two of the ruling Labour Party's rising leaders to emerge as the winner in the party's priahead of the national elections on May 29th.
The silver haired Mr Baram who is known for his straight king, came in ahead of the Foreign Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, and the Interior Minister, Mr Haim Ramon both viewed as future prime ministerial candidates once the Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, retires from politics.
Mr Baram, a former party secretary general who advocated talking to the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, long before his party was prepared to do so, will fill the second slot on the Labour list behind Mr Peres who was chosen unchallenged at a party convention earlier this year.
Following his good showing, Mr Baram has hinted he now views himself as a prospective Labour candidate for prime minister when elections come around again in four years' time. But Mr Barak, who was placed second, and Mr Ramon, who came in fourth, are still expected to be the major future contenders.
Mr Barak, once a close confidence of the assassinated Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, oily entered politics last year after finishing his term as army chief of staff.
Mr Ramon rejoined, the government after Mr Rabin's assassination in November. He left the government in protest in 1994 over its, refusal to support reforms in the country's health system and was late elected as head of the Histadiut Trade Union Federation.
Political commentators have argued however, that the battle between the two will be not bed determined by their showing in the primaries, but rather by who has the best chance of beating the opposition Likud candidate in future elections.
Besides Mr Barak, three other candidates who made it into the top 10 on the party's list are exmilitary men. Labour is expected to highlight this fact in its election campaign in an attempt to portray a tough security image in the wake of the recent suicide bombings by Hamas militants.
As Labour announced its results yesterday, members of the opposition Likud Party were choosing their list of candidates for the upcoming elections, with 170,000 party members eligible to vote at 80 computerised polling stations around the country.
Instead of marking off candidates on a list, Likud members simply had to touch the number of the candidate they wished to vote for on the computer screen.
While final results were only expected out in the early hours of this morning, Likud, front runners included Mr Ben Begin, son of a former Prime Minister, Mr Menachem Begin, Mr Ariel Sharon who was Israel's defence minister during the 1982 Lebanon war, and Mr Dan Meridoi, who is considered the main challenger to the party leader, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mr Netanyahu will run off against Mr Peres in Israel's first ever direct election for prime minister.