Shimon Peres was ousted as Israel's Labor Party leader yesterday in an upset victory for a trade union chief whose vow to end a ruling alliance with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could trigger early elections.

Amir Peretz, 53, was declared the winner of a rank-and-file ballot by a 42 to 40 percent margin over Peres, Labor's elder statesman who has won a Nobel Peace Prize but never a general election.

Peretz's victory appeared to reflect support for his call for a return to center-left Labor's socialist roots and anger at Peres, 82, for failing to revive Israel's once-dominant party after its defeat in the 2003 election.

"I expected a better evening," Peres told a news conference, clearly stunned by what commentators called an upheaval in Israeli politics.

Polls had predicted that Peres, an architect of now-tattered peace deals with the Palestinians, would coast to victory.

Amid chants of "the next prime minister" from supporters, Peretz, head of Israel's Histadrut trade union federation, said: "This can truly be Israel's most important hour."

Peretz pledged to pull the party out of Sharon's coalition over free-market reforms and spending cuts he said have worsened the plight of Israel's poor.

Sharon has relied on Labor's support to survive parliamentary no-confidence votes against his government, already shaky because of divisions in his rightist Likud over Israel's Gaza pullout in September.

Peretz said he would call Sharon today to set up a meeting, and Israel's Army Radio said he would push the prime minister to set a date for early elections, which are not due until November 2006.

Gideon Saar, parliamentary whip for Sharon's rightist Likud, called Peretz "irresponsible, very extreme" in his political and economic views and called on Likud to unite against him. Israel's shekel opened weaker after Peretz's victory.

"We will notify the prime minister that we want to leave. We want to leave ... certainly out of a desire to turn the Labor Party into an alternative that intends to take power in the next elections," Peretz told supporters.

But Labor, the party that founded the Jewish state in 1948 and later became the standard-bearer for peacemaking, is now weaker than ever as voters hardened by a five-year Palestinian uprising have abandoned it for Sharon's tough military approach.

Coalition at risk

Peres, a long-time personal friend of Sharon despite political differences, had made clear he wanted to help keep the government intact as long as possible.

The Labor primary came amid mounting speculation that Sharon could be forced into an early national poll by rebellious lawmakers in Likud Party to punish him for the Gaza withdrawal.

Peres took Labor into Sharon's government last year as junior partner to help carry out Israel's first removal of settlements from occupied land Palestinians want for a state.

Twice prime minister in a power-sharing deal in the 1980s and as successor to the slain Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 Peres has lost in five attempts at winning a general election outright.

His latest defeat could spell the end of a six-decade-long political career. He challenged the results, alleging voting irregularities, but party officials rejected the accusation.

Peretz shares many of Peres's dovish views, but his socio-economic platform resonated with Labor members who believe the government's economic policies have gone too far in widening the gap between rich and poor.

(China Daily November 11, 2005)