The municipal elections in Jerusalem brought a painful and
worrisome upset. The chareidi public lost the Mayor's Office
when Nir Barkat won the post with a margin of 19,000 votes.
The UTJ list for the city council again won the largest
number of seats, making it the largest party on the city
council. The vote grew by more than 10,000 votes, but it will
now have only eight seats instead of nine because of the high
overall voter turnout.
Of the 527,672 people eligible to vote in the capital,
221,713 cast a ballot. Barkat received 112,604 votes, or
52.44 percent of all valid votes cast, while Rabbi Meir
Porush received 93,257 votes, or 43.43 percent. Arcadi
Gaydamak received 7,789 votes or 3.63 percent, and Dan Biron
received 1,087 votes, or less than half a percent.
Five years ago Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky won the elections with
90,090 votes or 51.64 percent, while Barkat received 74,550
votes or 42.73 percent. At that time Rabbi Lupoliansky won
21,468 votes more than the total number of voters who cast
their ballots for the UTJ and Shas lists, while Rabbi Meir
Porush won only 9,883 votes beyond the number of UTJ and Shas
supporters. This indicates a decrease of 12,000 votes among
national religious, traditional and secular voters.
The secular turnout was very high this time, boosting the
total voting rate from 38 percent in the previous municipal
elections to 42 percent in this week's elections. That four
percent represents more than 20,000 additional votes, roughly
equivalent to three mandates. Barkat knew that his success
depended on a large voter turnout, and he directed his
efforts to that end.
UTJ is again the largest party on the city council, but the
number of mandates it commands decreased from nine to eight,
Shas went from five to four mandates and the NRP went from
four to three; these three mandates were taken by the secular
parties, which gained from the keen interest in the mayoral
elections, bringing more secular voters to the polls.
The number of UTJ voters rose from 43,097 to 53,550, a 24-
percent increase reflecting the natural growth rate and other
factors. But UTJ's relative power on the city council has
been diminished because of the large turnout of secular
voters.
Yerushalayim Tatzliach, the party headed by Nir Barkat,
received six mandates, like in the previous elections, and
Meretz kept its three mandates. Avigdor Lieberman's
Yerushalayim Beiteinu Party won two mandates for the first
time. The Likud dropped from two mandates to one and three
new local lists made their way onto the council: Hitorerut
with two mandates, Lemaan Yerushalayim with one mandate and
Pisgat Ze'ev Al Hamapah with one mandate. The results are not
final and there is still a possibility that Shas will get
another seat instead of Yerushalayim Beiteinu's second
seat.
"All of the facts have been presented to gedolei Yisroel
shlita," said Rabbi Yitzchok Pindrus, head of the Degel
Hatorah list. "I hope and am certain that besiyata
deShmaya we'll find a way to work with the Mayor-elect to
promote the sanctity of Jerusalem and for the sake of the
city's bnei Torah."
