2018 Jerusalem mayoral election
30 October 2018 (first round)
13 November 2018 (runoff)
 
Candidate Moshe Lion Ofer Berkovitch
Party Our Jerusalem Awakening
First-round vote 81,426 73,079
First-round percentage 32.76% 29.40%
Second-round vote 112,744 108,979
Second-round percentage 50.85% 49.15%
 
Candidate Ze'ev Elkin Yossi Daitsh
Party Jerusalem Will Succeed Agudat Yisrael
First-round vote 49,681 42,289
First-round percentage 19.99% 17.01%
Mayor before election

Nir Barkat
Independent

 Elected Mayor

Moshe Lion
Independent

The 2018 Jerusalem mayoral election was held on 30 October and 13 November 2018, to elect the mayor of Jerusalem.

With no candidate in the first round meeting the vote threshold of 40% needed to avoid a runoff election, a runoff was held on 13 November.[1] The election was won by Moshe Lion.

Incumbent mayor Nir Barkat did not seek re-election.

Background

In March 2018, incumbent mayor Nir Barkat announced he would forgo running for a third term, and would instead run on the Likud party's list in the next Knesset election.[2]

Under a new national law, the 30 October election day was made a holiday. However, the day of the 13 November runoff election day was not.[1]

The election was part of the 2018 Israeli municipal elections.

Candidates

Ran

Withdrew

  • Rachel Azaria, member of the Knesset (endorsed Elkin)[6]
  • Chaim Epstein, member of the Council of Jerusalem[7][8]

First round

Campaigning

Lion had the backing of the city's Haredi parties, which are influential in city, which has population that is more than one-fifth Haredi (between only Jews more than a third are Haredi, Arab voters who make up an estimate four in ten city's residents boycott elections).[3] Lion, who in his unsuccessful 2013 campaign for mayor had run as the Likud nominee, ran as an independent in 2018.[9]

Berkovitch positioned himself as a secular leader, opposing the influence of the Haredi.[3]

Elkin boasted the endorsements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and outgoing mayor Nir Barkat.[3] He was considered the race's front-runner.[10]

Unlike other Haredi political parties, the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael party did not support Lion, and instead backed the candidacy of Yossi Daitsh.[1]

Berkovitch and Elkin assailed each other. Elkin characterized Berkovitch as young and incompetent. Berkovitch characterized the filthiness of the city as a direct failure of Elkin's as the nation's environmental minister. Berkovitch also cited allegations by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel against Elkin, which accused Elkin of using his ministerial post for self-enrichment.[11]

Not originally seen as a leading candidate when he entered the race, Berkovitch was seen as benefiting from the crowded size of the field of candidates running, and rose to become a front-runner.[12]

Polling

Date Poll source Rachel
Azaria		 Offer
Berkovitch		 Yossi
Daitsh		 Ze'ev
Elkin		 Chaim
Epstein		 Yossi
Havilio		 Moshe
Lion		 Avi
Salman		 Undecided
Late-October 2018 Shvakim Panorama[4] -30.7%11.4%23.6%--29.8%0.4%-
August 2018 Dialog (for Elkin campaign)[13] 5.8%24.6%20.3%31.9%--13.0%
August 2018 Channel 2[14] 6%22%23%21%3%4%11%1%
Early-August 2018 Berkovitch campaign[12] 26.9%25.4%---11.1%

Results

The failure of Elkin to advance to the runoff was considered an upset defeat.[3]

The results of the first round of voting in Jerusalem, with 254,326 voters participating of 638,065 eligible (a 39.86% turnout), are as follows. Of the 254,326 votes, 248,585 were valid.

Candidate Party name Votes %
Moshe LionOur Jerusalemירושלים שלנו‎, Yerushalayim Shelanu81,42632.76%
Ofer BerkovitchAwakeningהתעוררות‎, Hit'orerut73,07929.40%
Ze'ev ElkinJerusalem Will Succeedירושלים תצליח‎, Yerushalayim Tatzli'ah49,68119.99%
Yossi DaitshAgudat Yisraelאגודת ישראל‎42,28917.01%
Avi SalmanI'm Jerusalemאני ירושלים‎, Ani Yerushalayim2,1100.85%
Source: Ministry of the Interior[15]

Runoff

Campaigning

Heading into the runoff, Lion continued to enjoy backing from the Haredi community, including the endorsements of the Degel HaTorah and Shas Haredi political partie, as well as the right wing Yisrael Beiteinu party.[9][1] However, the day before the election, the rabbinical council of the Agudat Yisrael party instructed their supporters not to vote in the runoff, which was seen as aiding Berkovitch's chances against Lion.[1]

Lion received the endorsement of outgoing mayor Barkat in the runoff.[1] He was also endorsed by the local chapters of the Likud and The Jewish Home parties, as well as several Likud party ministers.[1]

Lion was seen as the candidate in the runoff representing the right wing.[9]

Prime Minister Netanyahu did not endorse a candidate in the runoff.[1]

As is typical, the Arab populace in East Jerusalem boycotted the election.[7]

Polling

Hypothetical polling
With Berkovitch and Elkin
Date Poll source Offer
Berkovitch		 Ze'ev
Elkin		 Undecided
August 2018 Dialog (for Elkin campaign)[13] 38.8%61.2%

Results

The results of the second round of voting in Jerusalem are as follows. The voter turnout was 35%.

Candidate Votes %
Moshe Lion112,74450.85%
Ofer Berkovitch108,97949.15%
Source: Ministry of the Interior[16] – provisional data

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Newman, Marissa (13 November 2018). "Polls close in tense Jerusalem mayoral race; under 1/3 of voters show up". www.timesofisrael.com. Times of Israel. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  2. ↑ Bachner, Michael (25 March 2018). "Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat announces Knesset bid". www.timesofisrael.com. Times of Israel. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Liebermann, Oren (31 October 2018). "Netanyahu's candidate stunned in Jerusalem mayoral election". CNN. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  4. 1 2 Hoffman, Gil (28 October 2018). "Poll finds Tuesday's Jerusalem race close". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  5. ↑ "Israel holds municipal votes as Jerusalem chooses new mayor". KDWN. Associated Press. 30 October 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  6. ↑ Times of Israel, "Azaria pulls out of Jerusalem mayoral race, backs Elkin" 26 September 2018
  7. 1 2 Nikolenyi, Csaba (1 March 2020). "The 2018 Municipal Elections in Jerusalem: A Tale of Fragmentation and Polarization". Contemporary Review of the Middle East. 7 (1): 6–24. doi:10.1177/2347798919889762. ISSN 2347-7989. S2CID 213423030. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  8. ↑ Cidor, Peggy (22 July 2018). "Chaim Epstein: The wild card in the Jerusalem mayoral race". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 "Right-wing candidate wins runoff for Jerusalem mayor with backing of haredi Orthodox". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  10. ↑ "Haifa elects first woman mayor". Israel National News. JTA. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  11. ↑ "Jerusalem mayoral possibilities sell fire". israel.timesofnews.com. Times of News. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  12. 1 2 Lev, Tzvi (9 August 2018). "New poll shows Berkovitch narrowly leading Jerusalem race". Israel National News. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  13. 1 2 Sheva, Arutz (22 August 2018). "Zeev Elkin takes the lead in Jerusalem mayoral race". Israel National News. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  14. ↑ "Poll: Huldai will handily beat any other Tel Aviv mayoral candidate". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 14 August 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  15. ↑ "1800 7.11 תוצאות.xlsx". www.moin.gov.il. Ministry of the Interior. 2017. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020.
  16. ↑ "תוצאות הסיבוב השני לבחירות המוניציפליות" [Second Round Municipal Election Results] (XLS) (in Hebrew). Israel Ministry of the Interior. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
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