Major General Yohanan Danino, head of the police's investigations branch, on Thursday ordered a criminal investigation into allegations of fraud in the recent Labor Party primary election.

Danino ordered the investigation following a preliminary police probe into reports of voting irregularities in several Arab sector polling stations.

The preliminary probe had been ordered following a report by justice Amnon Strasnov (retired), who supervised the primary election process.

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The investigation will be carried out by the National Unit for International Investigations.

In the wake of his loss in the Labor primaries, MK Ami Ayalon, the runner-up, had considered asking the police or the State Comptroller to investigate suspicions of irregularities in Arab and Druze sector ballots.

Leading figures in Ayalon's campaign had insisted that they had "clear evidence" of a long series of irregularities in the vote in the Arab and Druze sectors, and had said they planned to turn to the party institutions in order to challenge the results. However, Ayalon decided to concede defeat, and instructed his aides to focus their efforts on evaluating whether a complaint should be filed with the police or with the State Comptroller's office.