The United Torah Judaism Central Election Staff began
operations at its offices in Petach Tikva's Kiryat Aryeh
neighborhood as Knesset elections draw near. Staff heads were
appointed and meetings were held to prepare for the setup of
local and regional election bureaus opening around the
country.
Following the first meeting held at the campaign
headquarters, which was convened to organize election staffs
and delineate campaign strategies, MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni led a
meeting of the Election Day Staff, headed by MK Rabbi Meir
Porush, to discuss the set up of election staffs across the
country, taking into consideration lessons learned from
previous election campaigns.
On Sunday, Central Election Staff Chairman MK Rabbi Avrohom
Ravitz led a meeting of all bureau directors and section
heads to set goals and work guidelines.
Rabbi Shmuel Halpert held a meeting of the Finance and
Gatherings Staff, which he chairs.
At all of the meetings participants noted the reduction in
campaign funding provided to all parties and a decision was
reached to cut campaign funding by 30 percent compared to the
previous elections. MKs said they did not want to take out
loans, which could interfere with UTJ activities during the
coming term.
With most of the national and local campaign staffs now
manned field work is getting underway to maximize the number
of UTJ voters in order to increase chareidi representation in
the Knesset.
At an in-depth meeting at the new campaign headquarters in
Petach Tikva's Kiryat Aryeh neighborhood, campaign staff
members decided to place greater emphasis on reaching out to
mesorati voters.
The participants, including UTJ's Knesset candidates and
office holders, discussed various issues on the agenda at
campaign bureaus around the country.
Participants were presented with campaign proposals aimed at
the mesorati sector after an in-depth survey conducted
by the Maager Mochot Institute found that the mesorati
public is very concerned with issues related to the Jewish
character of the State, namely education and Shabbos, which
are UTJ's emphasis.
The campaign staff was shown several different slogans and
campaigns prepared by a number of top advertising agencies
vying for the UTJ campaign.
Based on consultations with media experts, a total of 14
first-round proposals were presented to the participants at
the meeting, who were asked to rank the slogans. Five
advanced to the final round.
The campaign budget, which was cut by 30 percent in
accordance with the Party Funding Law, was also worked out
during the course of the meeting.
All of the participants expressed their hopes that the entire
chareidi public would unite in support of the joint list,
which was backed by gedolei Yisroel shlita.
They also analyzed certain dangers and challenges stemming
mainly from unforeseeable developments that could arise as a
result of the dramatic changes in the entire political
system.
