Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Tuesday endorsed Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin as his substitute, and known as on metropolis residents to vote for him in the municipal elections later this yr.
The assist got here by way of a video posted on Barkat’s Facebook web page, styled as an previous western film with a duel between the contributors, going down, naturally, in one of many metropolis’s many hummus joints.
The two politicians spar with competing success tales of the enhancements they made to town in their present respective positions — from schooling prizes, to new inns, to the variety of new start-ups in the capital.
Barkat concludes by saying that Elkin “fought for us in the government and is a real partner for the change that we made in Jerusalem.”
Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin speaks at a press convention, May 2, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
He provides his endorsement “as a Jerusalemite who loves the city with all his heart,” maybe a reference to the controversy surrounding the truth that Elkin, together with the opposite main candidate Deputy Mayor Moshe Lion, will not be regarded as long-term residents of the capital.
Elkin lived for a few years in Jerusalem earlier than relocating to the settlement of Kfar Eldad to its southeast, though he's seeking to transfer again to town. Lion relocated to Jerusalem a few years in the past from the Tel Aviv suburb of Givatayim.
Barkat concludes the video along with his full endorsement: “Only Elkin can carry on Jerusalem’s success.”
Barkat introduced in March that he is not going to be in search of a third time period and can as a substitute run for Knesset on the Likud party ticket.
Elkin is near the Haredi politicians who may get out for the vote in town on October 30. He has additionally been a key determine in the rise of state funding for the cash-strapped capital as head of the Jerusalem and Heritage Ministry in latest years.
Lion has beforehand run as an impartial candidate with backing from the native Likud party department.
Two ultra-Orthodox metropolis politicians have signaled their curiosity in working, hoping to capitalize on the 32 p.c of town’s inhabitants that identifies as Haredi — and whose voter share is even increased for the reason that metropolis’s Arab residents typically boycott the municipal vote.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat holds a press convention on the Jerusalem Municipality relating to his dispute with the Finance Ministry over town’s finances, on January 1, 2018. (Flash90)
Deputy Mayor Yossi Deitsch of the United Torah Judaism faction is seen because the main Haredi candidate, alongside fellow party member Yitzhak Pindrus, additionally a deputy mayor.
Elkin is just not the one MK seeking to change from the Knesset to Jerusalem metropolis corridor. Zionist Union lawmaker Nachman Shai introduced his candidacy in May.
The opposition MK, who's a deputy Knesset speaker and former IDF spokesman, is shifting his residency from the close by Mevasseret Zion to Jerusalem in order to be eligible to run in the race.
Another attainable candidate is Kulanu party MK Rachel Azaria, who served as deputy mayor earlier than coming into the Knesset in 2015.
There are additionally a number of secular candidates vying for the assist of the youthful generations, together with 34-year-old Ofer Berkowitz, head of the Hitorerut faction, who enjoys the assist of a number of the metropolis’s extra liberal spiritual residents and is taken into account by many as a potential future mayor — even when not this time round.
Another contender, Yossi Havilio, a former municipal authorized adviser turned Barkat critic, appeals primarily to the secular inhabitants.
Little-known Avi Salman has additionally introduced he'll run on a secular ticket.