Moshe Lion celebrates his victory, winning the Jerusalem mayoral election. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
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Jerusalem city councilman Moshe Lion defeated councilman Ofer Berkovitch in a close race for Jerusalem mayor early Wednesday, with nearly all of the 200,000 votes cast counted.
Lion had a lead of some 6,000 votes over Berkovtich in a race that was impacted by a rift inside the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community. Shas leader Arye Deri called Lion to congratulate him.
The final margin proved to separate the candidates by a difference of 6,500, a mere 3% of the total votes.
Ofer Berkovitch and his legal team are refusing to accept the election results and concede the race. In his “concession” speech Berkovitch said, “We heard the results… there are also quite a few irregularities we heard about at the polls and our legal team is examining the results in depth, there are quite a number of polling stations that we need to examine thoroughly,” refusing to concede the race to Lion.
Whereas meanwhile newly elected candidate Lion said, “I will be mayor of all, even those who have not chosen me,” pledging to serve all of the citizens of Jerusalem equally in his mission.
In the first round of voting on Ocober 30, Lion won the most votes out of four candidates, thanks to the support he received from the Degel Hatorah and Shas parties. His own Jerusalem Shelanu party did not receive enough votes to make it into the 31-member Jerusalem city council.
By contrast, Berkovitch’s Hitorerut party won seven seats, more than any other party. Due to its rift with Degel Hatorah, the Agudat Yisrael party told its supporters not to vote in the election.
Consequently, there was better turnout in secular and religious Zionist neighborhoods like Baka than haredi neighborhoods like Mea Shearim.
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Earlier, Berkovitch has as much as a 10 percent lead with a smaller amount of the votes counted, and the atmosphere at Lion’s campaign headquarters was negative. But the mood improved as Berkovitch’s lead became smaller.
In other races, former Likud MK Carmel Shama-Hakohen defeated incumbent Yisrael Singer in Ramat Gan, Rafi Saar led former police investigations department head Yossi Sitbon in Kfar Saba, Avichai Shtern led Yossi Malka in Kfar Saba, Eilat mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevi was re-elected, Shuki Ohana of Likud won in Tzfat and the former head of US president Donald Trump’s campaign in Israel Tzvika Brot beat incumbent Yossi Bahar in Bat Yam.
Meanwhile, in Ra’anana, incumbent Eitan Ginzburg, who was the city’s first gay mayor, lost to former journalist Haim Broyde.
A deep surprise also occurred when the incumbent and previous mayor of Ma’alot Shlomo Buhbut lost, after 43 years of holding the office, to Arkady Pomerantz.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Halevi, Ohana and Brot to congratulate them.
The number of women mayors rose in Tuesday’s run-off race from 11 to at least 13, with Yehud’s Yaela Maklis winning and Hagar Perry Yagur winning in Pardes Hana.
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