Why was Moshe Lion’s name larger than the others?
Was the Central Election Committee trying to hint something to voters in Jerusalem? It seemed so, based on the point size of the names of the candidates as they appeared on ballot slips at voting stations on Tuesday.
Moshe Lion’s name appeared much larger than his contenders, who included Likud Minister Ze’ev Elkin, city councilman Ofer Berkovitch, deputy mayor Yossi Daitch and former city attorney Avi Salman.
Israelis choose two slips of paper at ballots – one for mayor or head of local council, and a second one for the party they want to see on the council. As clear in the above photo, the point size on the yellow slip of paper with Lion’s name (second from left) is much larger than any of the other candidates’ names.
Yariv Oppenheimer, a board member of Peace Now, noted on Twitter, that the problem appears at polling stations all over the country and that the point size depends on the length of the candidate’s name. “This is a terrible mistake by the Election Committee,” he said.
The Election Committee responded that there had been no complaints and that there is no legal problem with names of candidates appearing in different point sizes. Elkin said he was not bothered by the difference, and that size does not really matter.
“Jerusalem voters are smarter than that,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “If this was a gimmick by Lion, it won’t work.”