Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., December 04, 2008 Kislev 7, 5769 | | Israel Time: 01:31 (EST+7)   Back to Homepage web haaretz.com Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate GA 2008 Travel Week's End Anglo File

Labor's fiasco / The party defeated itself By Yossi Verter Crushed, dying and now a laughingstock, the Labor Party can find only one point of solace: Things cannot, it seems, get any worse. Maybe now its luck will turn, and tomorrow night, after counting the good old paper ballots, it will find itself with an attractive, feisty list, filled with new faces, that will erase the memory of yesterday's fiasco. After yesterday, Labor needs such a list like air to breathe. And perhaps it can also find a smidgen of comfort in the fact that even mighty America has suffered fiascoes with its voting machines - as during the presidential race in 2000, when a few thousand ballots with hanging chads in Florida determined the outcome of the race. Advertisement The computerized voting system that crashed yesterday morning immediately after being activated was supposed to have prevented the embarrassing ritual that is an ever-present part of every primary: accusations of fraud, of voting en masse by clans, of people rising from the dead to cast their ballots, of ballot boxes that mysteriously disappear. And from this standpoint, party secretary general MK Eitan Cabel's decision to switch to computerized voting was a good one. He at least tried to change the situation, and had the move succeeded, he would justly have claimed the credit. Now, however, he is obliged to take responsibility for the failure - just as he urged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to do after the Second Lebanon War, when he said that Olmert should resign. A heartwarming scene was shown on television last night: One of Labor's new candidates, former Haaretz journalist Daniel Ben Simon, met MK Ophir Pines-Paz at one of the polling stations and asked, with touching naivete: "Tell me, Ophir, can such a thing really happen?" Pines did not bother to answer. He has already seen it all. One of Cabel's predecessors, Ra'anan Cohen, used to proclaim at every opportunity, justified or not, "The party won!" Yesterday, Labor defeated itself. The long lines at polling stations throughout the country showed that the party still has life in it, even if most of the voters were over the age of 70. The question is, how many of them will bother to turn out to vote again tomorrow? How many of the activists and volunteers who took a day off from work yesterday will do so again tomorrow? And who will benefit from a low voter turnout - the veterans or the new faces? Bookmark to del.icio.us   Light unto the nations Obama must help Israel break its territorial addiction. Blockade busters Israeli Arab leaders vow to sail to Gaza to break blockade.

Read & React Bradley Burston / The Jihadi as Nazi, from 9/11 to Mumbai Responses: 202 IDF declares Hebron `house of contention` a closed military zone Responses: 83 Amira Hass: Hamas sacrificing Islamic religious rite to keep its iron grip on Gaza Responses: 44 Experts urge Obama to negotiate with Iran, advance Syria peace Responses: 71 Palestinian seriously hurt in Jerusalem stabbing; says Jews attacked him Responses: 82 Rabbi, priest and imam pray together for rain on Kinneret Responses: 35 More Headlines 00:50 Livni: Israel must not let itself turn into the 'wild west' 20:06 Israel deploys hundreds of riot police as tensions in Hebron escalate 19:46 Report: Argentina to halt trade with Iran over Jewish center bombings 16:45 Israeli Arab leaders vow to sail to Gaza to break blockade 16:56 JEWISH WORLD / Obama must help Israel break its territorial addiction 18:27 Egypt MP: We won't let Hamas form an Islamic emirate in Gaza 21:31 Britain to host Fayyad and Olmert for separate talks this month 14:12 Palestinian seriously hurt in Jerusalem stabbing, says Jews attacked him 15:39 Three Qassams hit west Negev, further unraveling Gaza truce 00:23 Ido Pollak appointed CEO of TheMarker 16:54 The Jihadi as Nazi, from 9/11 to Mumbai 20:40 Two men injured in shooting incident in south Tel Aviv 21:23 U.S. court upholds $156 million judgment against Palestinian charities 19:44 Israeli expert: 70,000 children suffer abuse each year in Israel Previous Editions Select Day 03 dec 02 dec 01 dec 30 nov 28 nov 27 nov 26 nov 25 nov 24 nov 23 nov 21 nov 20 nov

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