The committee is set to vote on its leader on June 27 and its list on July 11. The two votes will be held within the party committee, which has about 1,000 members.
The faction made the decision after 60 percent of the party voted against motions to hold open primaries or to freeze the current list.
That decision was seen as a failure for Zandberg, and for the current list of candidates, whose posts are now in jeopardy.
Current Meretz chair MK Tamar Zandberg faces at least one challenger in former party MK Nitzan Horowitz who announced he was running for the party chairmanship last week.
The Meretz convention also voted against a proposal to institute two party chairmen, an idea designed to allow a Jewish and an Arab leader of the party.
The joint candidacy will require a change to the party’s constitution to allow two people to run together for chairman. The party leadership primary is scheduled for June 27, and two weeks later there will be elections for the party Knesset slate.
“The Israeli left needs hope in the form of a true Jewish-Arab partnership, said Freige. “The Arab public showed confidence in Meretz during the last election and now we must enhance the partnership in the form of a strong and influential Arab-Jewish left.”