Deri increases polling stations for Arabs in J’lem

Interior Minister Arye Deri announced on Thursday that he would significantly increase the polling stations in Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods in the October 30 municipal election.

There are some 180,000 eligible voters in Arab neighborhoods, but barely 1% of eligible Arab voters cast ballots in the last Jerusalem mayoral race, which took place five years ago.

The decision was made after Arabs running in the election threatened to sue. There is expected to be a lawsuit by Palestinian activist Aziz Abu-Sarah, who wants to run for mayor even though he is not a citizen.

The final candidates for Jerusalem mayor are Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin (Jerusalem Will Succeed), deputy mayors Moshe Lion (Jerusalem Sheli) and Yossi Daitch (Agudat Yisrael), city council members Ofer Berkovitch (Hitorerut) and Haim Epstein (Peleg Yerushalmi) and former city attorney Avi Salman (I am Jerusalem).

Kulanu MK Rachel Azaria quit the race and the Yerushalmim party she founded will not be running alone in the election. While her party received the fifth slot on Elkin’s list, key figures in Yerushalmim have decided to back Hitorerut instead.

United Torah Judaism, which was unified in the outgoing Jerusalem city council, will be divided this time, with the Agudat Yisrael and Degel Hatorah parties submitting separate lists. Shas and the Peleg Yerushalmi party are also running, for a total of four separate haredi (ultra-Orthodox) lists.

The final candidates for the Tel Aviv mayoral race are incumbent mayor Ron Huldai, deputy mayor Asaf Zamir, TV presenter Assaf Harel who is backed by Hadash, deputy mayor and Shas representative Natan Elnatan. On Wednesday, Zippi Brand Frank (Simu Lev Horim) announced that she had withdrawn herself as a mayoral candidate and merged with Zamir, running as his number two.

Meretz representative Meital Lehavi quit the race on Thursday.