Haredi candidate Lupoliansky confirmed as Jerusalem Mayor (UPDATE)

Jerusalem Post ^ | June 3, 2003 | staff

[Nachum]

With votes from 581 of 605 polling stations already counted early Wednesday morning, incumbent Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky was confirmed as its next mayor, leading over runner-up Nir Barkat by some 10 percent.

Lupoliansky's election campaign has made history in electing the capital's first haredi mayor in 55 years of Israeli history.

Lupolianski, who took over as the city's first haredi mayor four months ago following Ehud Olmert's decision to reenter national politics, received more than 48% of the ballot in these stations. His close forerunner, entrepreneur Barkat, received less than 40 of the ballot. Likud candidate Yigal Amedi received some 3 percents of the ballot.

The votes counted at this hour represented the ballot cast by more than 160,000 Jerusalem residents, out of some 200,000 eligible to vote.

Jerusalem voters followed a sectorial key in electing their mayor, according to polling results published by Israel Radio. For instance, in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Ezrat Torah, Lupoliansky received 99 percent of the votes, while Barkat received only one vote. In a ballot box placed in the mostly secular Rehavia neighborhood, Barkat received 86.45 percent of the votes, while Lupoliansky only took 8.5 percent of the ballot.

In Haifa, where votes from 220 of 360 polling stations have already been counted at this hour, Yona Yahav, Shinui's candidateis seen as the leader in the race, having received 52 percent of the votes. Shmuel Arad, his close forerunner, received 43 percent of the votes. Only 36 percent of Haifa's eligible voters cast their ballot in this election.

The new mayor of Or Akiva, which also held its mayoral election Tuesday, is Simcha Yossipuv, the Likud's candidate. He received 45 percent of the vote, leaving the other four candidates far behind.

[goldstategop]

The big news out of Israel is the Labor Party was decisively routed in its last urban bastion, "Red" Haifa.

[hoosierboy]

There are a lot of arabs israelis living haifa along with bahai. I don't see them voting for labor either.

[goldstategop]

Yup. This was Amram Mitzna's fiefdom for a dozen years during the Oslo period. Haifa made history by electing its first mayor NOT from the Labor Party. And Jerusalem made history tonight by electing the first ultra-orthodox Jew as the city's mayor. Jerusalem, the nation's capital is both religious and goes conservative in national elections.

[Alouette]

At last, some GOOD NEWS for a change. The best part is that Uri Lupolianski has a reputation as a fine and decent person, a rarity for a politician. Considering that the majority of Jerusalem's Jewish population is Orthodox or haredi this was long overdue.

Congratulations to Uri Lupolianski and the citizens of Jerusalem.

[Alouette]

Uri Lupoliansky

[Jeremiah Jr]

At last, some good news!

Whee!

[LenS]

in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Ezrat Torah, Lupoliansky received 99 percent of the votes, while Barkat received only one vote.

Even Bill's pardons couldn't get Hillary that level of voting support in that one Orthodox community. *g*

[Clemenza]

To my knowledge, only the Kiryas Joel community in Rockland County gave Hillary their full (99%) support. Lazio ran even or ahead of Hillary among the Haredim in Brooklyn, depending on who the respective rebbe endorsed.

[arielb]

the other interesting side of the story is that Likud (let alone Labor) didn't have a chance at mayor. After seeing how pathetic Sharon is by co-opting Meretz, Israelis need a better choice

[jehosophat]

Hillary bought the votes from New Square, a small hamlet upstate with a population of about 7000. In a very shameful episode.

My understanding is that the Republicans are competitive in most of the other towns and neighborhoods within NYC with large Orthodox populations. Kiryas Joel is solidly Republican and had nothing to do with the Clinton pardons.

[Alouette]

Hillary bought the votes from New Square, a small hamlet upstate with a population of about 7000. In a very shameful episode.

Shameful, agreed. But Hillary only received 1200 votes from New Square, I guess they did not feel she was worth voting for twice, or registering all their underage children to vote for her.