Labour Party leader Avi Gabay speaks during a press conference at the Labour Party offices in Tel Aviv in on Oct.1, 2017. Photo: Tomer Neuberg/Flash90.

JNS.org – Labor party members headed to the polls on Tuesday to determine who will represent the once-prominent faction in Israel’s national elections in September.

Approximately 65,000 members will be eligible to cast ballots at one of 105 polling stations—down significantly from the 160,000 eligible voters the party had in 1992.

Prior to the April 9 elections, which failed to produce a functional coalition, Labor members elected 2011 tent protest leaders Itzik Shmuli and Stav Shaffir to the first and second slots on the party list, with former Labor heads Shelly Yachimovich and Amir Peretz taking positions three and four, respectively.

Tuesday’s primary is seen as critical for the survival of the party, which was once home to former prime ministers Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin, as well as former president Shimon Peres.

In the April election Labor won just six Knesset seats, the worst electoral showing in the party’s history. Current leader Avi Gabbay subsequently announced his resignation.

In 2015, the party teamed up with the Zionist Union party and won 19 seats.