Home About Chat Users Issues Party Candidates Polling Firms Media News Polls Calendar Key Races United States President Senate House Governors International

New User Account
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource." 
Email: Password:

  Peretz, Amir
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationLabor  
<-  2015-01-01  
 
NameAmir Peretz
Address
Sderot, , Israel
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born March 09, 1952 (72 years)
Contributor411 Name Removed
Last ModifedIndyGeorgia
Sep 10, 2019 08:26pm
Tags African - Jewish - Married - Union Member - Judaism - Straight -
InfoAmir Peretz is the newly-elected leader of the Labour Party in Israel, having defeated Shimon Peres in the primary elections on 9 November 2005. Peretz is also chairman of the Histadrut labour federation.

Amir Peretz was born as Armand Peretz in the town of Bojar in Morroco. His father was head of the Jewish community and owned a petrol station. The family emigrated to Israel in 1956. They were settled in what later became the town of Sderot. Peretz graduated from high school in Sderot. He served in the IDF as a logistics officer in the paratroop brigade. He left the army in 1974 with the rank of captain, after having been wounded in an accident when his armoured personnel carrier overturned. After rehabilitating from the accident, he bought and settled in a farm in the village of Nir Akiva.

In 1983 he answered a call made by friends, and ran for the mayorship of the town of Sderot, representing the Israel Labour Party. His victory ended a long period of dominance of the town's politics by the right-wing Likud party and the national religious Mafdal party. It was the first of a series of local councils which passed back to Labour control. As mayor, he strongly emphasized education and worked to improve previously fraught relations with the kibbutzim in the area.

In 1988 he was elected a member of the Knesset. In 1994 he supported Haim Ramon's challenge for the leadership of Histadrut against the favoured candidate of Labour's then leader, Yitzhak Rabin, and in opposition to the Rabin government's moving away from Labour's traditional socialist platform. This isolated Peretz within the Labour Party. He became chairman of Histadrut in December 1995, when Ramon reconciled his differences with Rabin and became a government minister. In 1999, Peretz resigned from the Labour Party to form his own party, Am Ehad ("One Nation").

Am Ehad won two seats in the Knesset in the General Election in 1999, and three in 2003. As Labour's fortunes changed with the Likud Party in government, and Israel's social programmes were dismantled, Peretz became increasingly popular with Israel's working-class and by the start of 2004 was being talked of as a "white knight who will rescue [Labour] from oblivion". After protracted negotiations with Shimon Peres and other Labour leaders, Am Ehad merged with Labour in the summer of 2005.

After the merger, Peretz ran for the leadership of the Labour Party on a platform of ending the coalition with Likud, led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and reasserting Labour's traditional socialist policies. Peretz narrowly defeated the incumbent leader and former Prime Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, in the election on 9 November 2005. Peretz won 42% of the votes as against 39% for Shimon Peres. The third candidate, former defence minister Benjamin (Fuad) Ben-Eliezer, received 16%. Shimon Peres has called for a party inquiry into alleged electoral fraud at some polling stations. However, Eytan Kavel, Labour's secretary-general, dismissed the allegations stating that the results of all polling stations had been confirmed by representatives of all the contenders. The next General Election in Israel is due by November 2006, but could be called earlier. Were Amir Peretz to win the election and form a government, he would become the first non-Ashkenazi premier in Israel's history.

Peretz is married and is the father of four children.

[Link]

JOB APPROVAL POLLS

BOOKS
Title Purchase Contributor

EVENTS
Start Date End Date Type Title Contributor

NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor
Dec 06, 2012 03:00am News Amir Peretz leaves Labor, joins Tzipi Livni Party   Article 411 Name Removed 
Mar 31, 2006 01:00pm News Likud may recommend that Amir Peretz form next government  Article 411 Name Removed 
Mar 03, 2006 01:00pm News Peretz rejects rotation government with Netanyahu  Article 411 Name Removed 
Mar 02, 2006 11:00am News Peretz meets Abbas; urges contacts with PA moderates  Article 411 Name Removed 
Mar 02, 2006 11:00am News Peres hints: Peretz should be indicted  Article 411 Name Removed 
Feb 27, 2006 11:00am News Surprise in Dull Campaign: Peretz Visits Jewish Town in Judea  Article 411 Name Removed 

DISCUSSION
Importance? 9.00000 Average

FAMILY

INFORMATION LINKS
RACES
  05/17/2020 ISR Minister of the Economy Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  03/02/2020 ISR Knesset - Labor–Gesher–Meretz Seat 01 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  09/17/2019 ISR Prime Minister Lost 5.00% (-20.83%)
  09/17/2019 ISR Knesset - Labor-Gesher Seat 01 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  07/02/2019 ISR Labor Chairman Won 46.72% (+19.74%)
  04/09/2019 ISR Knesset - Labor Seat 06 Won 25.33% (+0.22%)
  07/10/2017 ISR Labor Chairman Lost 47.82% (-4.37%)
  07/04/2017 ISR Labor Chairman Won 32.77% (+5.64%)
  03/17/2015 ISR Knesset - Zionist Union Seat 08 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  03/16/2013 ISR Minister of Environmental Protection Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  01/22/2013 ISR Knesset - Hatnua Seat 03 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  09/21/2011 ISR Labor Chairman - Run-off Lost 45.70% (-8.60%)
  09/12/2011 ISR Labor Chairman Won 31.01% (+0.00%)
  02/10/2009 ISR Knesset - Labor Seat 10 Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  05/28/2007 ISR Labor Chairman Lost 23.12% (-13.62%)
  04/28/2006 ISR Defense Minister Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  11/09/2005 Labor Chairman Won 42.72% (+2.41%)
  01/28/2003 ISR Prime Minister Lost 2.50% (-54.17%)
ENTERED, DROPPED OUT
  03/02/2020 ISR Prime Minister Lost 0.00% (-60.83%)
SPECULATIVE, DID NOT RUN
  06/02/2021 Israel President Lost 0.00% (-73.11%)
ENDORSEMENTS
ISR Prime Minister - Mar 02, 2020 L Benjamin Netanyahu