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Candidate backed by ultra-Orthodox groups in line for Jerusalem mayor
JERUSALEM, Nov 14, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A candidate backed by ultra-Orthodox
Jewish groups is in line to become Jerusalem mayor after a runoff vote for
Israeli local elections, results showed Wednesday.
Moshe Leon closed in on victory after his campaign played on fears of the
Holy City’s secularisation.
Over 51 percent of voters selected Leon while 48 percent supported his
secular opponent Ofer Berkovitch in Tuesday’s runoff, held two weeks after
the first round.
There were still approximately 9,000 votes of soldiers, police officers,
disabled people and prisoners to be counted before the interior ministry
officially announced the new mayor.
That left Berkovitch — trailing behind Leon by 6,528 votes — with only a
very small chance of causing an upset.
Leon, who like Berkovitch was a member of the city council, had the support
of some ultra-Orthodox factions, including the Shas party, which is led by
Interior Minister Arye Deri.
He was also supported by Avigdor Lieberman, who resigned as Israel’s
defence minister on Wednesday.
Leon, an accountant by training with rich experience in the public sector,
is a religious nationalist and not ultra-Orthodox.
The 57-year-old was briefly head of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
office in 1997.
Deri had invoked the devil on the campaign trail.
“All of our rabbis support (Leon) against a secular candidate who wants to
continue secularising Jerusalem and turn our Holy City into a regular city,”
Deri told supporters in a video on Saturday night.
“Satan is conducting an emergency recruitment and called up all his
forces.”
Speaking early Wednesday after the results were published, Leon stressed he
would work towards unity.
“Jerusalem has chosen togetherness,” he said. “I plan, God willing, to be
the mayor of all Jerusalem residents.”
Berkovitch refused to accept defeat, claiming foul play during voting.
“Our legal team is examining the results,” he said.
The ultra-Orthodox constitute over a third of Jerusalem’s Jewish population
and wield heavy influence in the politics of the city, which has previously
had an ultra-Orthodox mayor.
East Jerusalem’s 330,000 Palestinians are eligible to vote in the local
elections, but the vast majority stay away, refusing to recognise Israeli
control over the sector of the city they claim as the capital of their future
state.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it
in a move never recognised by the international community. It sees the entire
city as its capital.
Any mayor must deal with the various factions represented on Jerusalem’s
31-seat council.
Berkovitch’s faction is the largest with seven seats, and while Leon’s
faction won no seats, he can still form a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox
and national religious groups that supported him.
BSS/AFP/FI/2340 hrs