Shimon Peres has been ousted as Israel's Labour Party leader by a trade union chief who vowed to quit Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ruling coalition and usher in early elections.
After a leadership contest that shook up Israel's political landscape, Amir Peretz (53), said he would press Sharon to set a date for a national ballot, advancing an election not due until November 2006. Israel Radio said talks would be held on Sunday.
Largely unknown on the international stage, Mr Peretz was declared the winner of a rank-and-file ballot by a 42 to 40 per cent margin over Mr Peres, Labour's elder statesman who has won a Nobel Peace Prize but never a general election.
Mr Peretz's victory appeared to reflect support for his call for a return to Labour's socialist roots and disillusionment with Mr Peres (82), for failing to revive Israel's once-dominant party after its crushing defeat in the 2003 general election.
Mr Peretz, a Moroccan immigrant whose father toiled in a kibbutz factory, takes the helm of a centre-left party that has long been a bastion of the European Jewish elite.
"I expected a better evening," a glum Mr Peres confessed at a news conference, clearly stunned at the election's outcome.
Polls had predicted that Mr Peres, Israel's vice prime minister and an architect in the 1990s of now-tattered peace deals with the Palestinians, would coast to victory.
Political upheaval in Israel is expected to keep diplomacy with the Palestinians, already on hold after a surge of violence following Israel's Gaza pullout, in a deep freeze for now.