2001 Israeli prime ministerial election

2001 Israeli prime ministerial election
Turnout	62.29%
Prime Minister before election; Ehud Barak; Labor	Prime Minister after election ; Ariel Sharon; Likud

Prime ministerial elections were held in Israel on 6 February 2001 following the resignation of the incumbent Prime Minister Ehud Barak on 9 December 2000. Barak stood for re-election against Likud's Ariel Sharon.

The third and last prime ministerial elections (separate elections were scrapped before the next Knesset elections in 2003), they were the only ones not held alongside simultaneous Knesset elections.

Voter turnout was 62%, the lowest turnout for any national election held in Israel. The low turnout was at least partially due to many Israeli Arabs boycotting the elections in protest at the October 2000 events in which twelve Israeli Arabs were killed by the police.^[1] Other possible reasons are Sharon's massive lead in opinion polling, and the lack of enthusiasm among Barak supporters due to his perceived failings, notably, the failure of the 2000 Camp David talks with the Palestinians, and the "turbine affair" in which Barak yielded to the religious parties' pressure, violating previous promises.

^ Barak concedes defeat The Guardian, 6 February 2001

[1] Barak concedes defeat The Guardian, 6 February 2001

[1]