Quds, June 12, SPA -- Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak appeared to have been elected chairman of the Israel Labour party in Tuesday's leadership election, exit polls broadcast on three Israeli television channels showed, DPA. But the narrow victory forecast for Barak in all three exit polls was within the margin of error and the final outcome of the contest will not be apparent until the first real results trickle in from around midnight local time (2100 GMT). The poll on Channel 1 showed Barak winning 52 per cent of the vote, to 48 per cent for his challenger, Ami Ayalon. Channel 2 gave Barak a 50.5 per cent to 49.5 per cent victory, while Channel 10 forecast Barak receiving 51 per cent of the vote to Ayalon's 49 per cent, reported DPA. Barak, 65, and Ayalon, 61, a former head of the Israeli navy, squared off in Tuesday's vote after both defeated outgoing Labour leader Amir Peretz in a first round of voting held two weeks ago. But the fact that neither managed to garner the required 40 per cent of the vote in that contest necessitated a second poll.
