Tuesday’s local authority elections – a basic guide
The nation elects local authorities on Tuesday. The following information is based on a document issued by the Knesset’s Research Division this past week.
There are three types of local authorities in Israel: Municipalities, which run cities; local councils, which run townships that are not cities; and regional councils, which run a number of small towns, such as kibbutzim, in a certain region. The term “local authorities” is more general and relates to all three types.
The election was first scheduled for October 31, but postponed, after October 7 and the ensuing war, to January 30, and then again, to February 27.
There are 259 local authorities in Israel. Of these, two are industrial parks that do not include citizens; 77 are municipalities; 126 are local councils; and 54 are regional councils.
There are 164 Jewish, 85 Arab, and 8 mixed local authorities.
The 14 local authorities on the Gaza and northern border, whose residents have been evacuated due to the war, will vote on November 19.
Each local authority has one chief executive (mayor, local council head, or regional council head). It also has a council, which serves as the local legislature and also exercises executive duties.
Council sizes vary from nine to 31 in cities, and five to 21 in local authorities, depending on the population. The size of regional authority councils differs based on the number of small towns in the region. The chief executive is a member of the council. Jerusalem, for example, has the maximum 31 council members. Thirty are representatives of parties, and the 31st is the elected mayor.
The vote includes two ballots, one yellow and one white. The yellow ballots include candidates for the chief executives, and the white ballots include parties running for the councils. The allocation of council seats to party lists depends on votes received.
The chief executive must receive at least 40% of the votes to win. If no candidate reaches 40%, the top two candidates go head-tohead two weeks after the first.
However, this year, second rounds will be held on Sunday, March 10, instead of on March 12, due to Ramadan. As on the day of national elections, the day local authority elections are held is a national holiday and work places are closed. However, the day of second-round elections is not a holiday, and workplaces remain open.
Regional councils include a third, blue ballot, for the committee of the voters’ small towns, who in turn
elect that towns’ representative in the regional council.
As in the national election, people with disabilities or serving in roles that
do not enable them to vote within their local authority, can vote elsewhere with double envelopes.
To accommodate the
many serving soldiers, the Knesset passed a law so that soldiers can vote a week in advance. Soldiers started voting last Tuesday, and ballot
boxes were brought into Gaza for that purpose.
There are 801 candidates competing for chief executive positions, of whom just 83 are women.
There are 24,910 total candidates for local authority councils, of whom 6,349 are women.