Israel has sometimes been accused of being too democratic, and it seems that once again recent events have reinforced that charge. The recent vote for the Labor party chairmanship was too close to call and will have to be decided in a run-off on June 12th. What does this mean? Why is it important?

Israel has a parliamentary democracy consisting of three branches of government and lots of political parties (currently 12) and operates on the basis of coalition forming. Often times, these coalitions are tenuous and short lived resulting in elections being held on average every two years, hence the accusation.

Labor is one of the larger coalition partners in the current government so a change at the top will certainly have ramifications for the entire government. For more analysis we defer to the Jerusalem Post:

Barak defeats Ayalon but will have to face him in 2nd round
By GIL HOFFMAN

Former prime minister Ehud Barak and MK Ami Ayalon will face off in a June 12 runoff race to determine who will become Labor Party leader, according to the final count of votes announced Tuesday morning.

As counting the last votes finished, Barak led with 35.6 percent of the vote, followed by Ayalon with 30.6%, Defense Minister Amir Peretz with 22.4%, MK Ophir Paz-Pines 8% and MK Danny Yatom 2.7%.

For an analysis go here