Yacimovich asks Tel Aviv court to toss out Histadrut elections

Zionist Union MK Shelly Yacimovitch has appealed to the Tel Aviv District Court to cancel last week’s election for head of the Histadrut labor federation.

The 26-page lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, calls into question how the election was run, listing a series of incidents of wrongdoing, including testimonies from dozens of people who said they did not vote but whose ballots were cast and counted nonetheless.

Yacimovich lost the election for the chairmanship of Israel’s largest union to incumbent Avi Nissenkorn by a vote of 62.42%-37.58%.

Nissenkorn’s campaign called the court case a mere public relations maneuver intended to distract the public from the fact that she was trounced in the election.

“Even after the election, Yacimovich continues her mudslinging, which harms the workers, unions and pensioners,” the Nissenkorn campaign said.

Labor leadership candidate Amir Peretz congratulated Nissenkorn on his victory and called upon Yacimovich to accept the results of the election.

The Labor Party’s internal court began a process Tuesday of checking the membership forms of party members whose membership fee was paid by someone who also paid for at least four other members. While candidate MK Erel Margalit expressed confidence that the probe would lead to the discovery of mass corruption, Peretz downplayed the move.

“We welcome and respect the decision and are sure that the probe will not find any problem with the purity of the election and the Peretz campaign,” a spokesman for Peretz said. “We hope the probe will not be used as an excuse to delay or cancel the [Labor Party] election, which must be held on time on July 4.”