Discussions about the necessity to reach some kind of union between the candidates, or at least for now, between the pluralist and secular lists at city council, has become the talk of the day.
By PEGGY CIDORSeeking alternatives: Some Jerusalemites are angry that while Mayor Nir Barkat cries poverty, the city somehow nds the funding for this trivia game that is accompanying 2018 municipal tax bills(photo credit: ERICA SCHACHNE)
Narendra Modi One of the results of last week’s short strike by municipal sanitation workers was a still-growing sense of insecurity among the residents, heightened as the mayoral and city council elections draw closer. The third go-around of the clash between Mayor Nir Barkat and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon has deepened the feeling that once again, politics is deciding on how daily life goes here, while nobody really listens to what the residents truly need.Above all, there is a lot of anger toward Barkat – and not because Jerusalemites do not realize that the government, and the Finance Ministry more specifically, are not acting fairly towards the city. Jerusalemites already understood, a long time ago, that politicians are quick to say they stand by the capital, but tend to disregard its needs, especially in terms of budget, very quickly. The offense is shared by many, with improvements to the situation held back by ignorance and defiance.Meanwhile, the candidates for the upcoming mayoral election in November were very quick to exploit the situation: piles of garbage everywhere; the firing of 2,150 municipal employees, all residents of the city; Barkat’s obvious failure to influence the Finance Ministry; and more. The ire, the loss of trust in the man who held such great promise just 10 years ago, combined with the fact that for the first time, there are quite a few mayoral candidates and for now at least, none of them are haredi, has a large impact on those Jerusalemites – and they are growing in number – who feel that an alternative to Barkat is not such a bad idea anymore.Yossi Havilio, Avi Salman and Ofer Berkovitch are all busy building their strategy to promote their candidacy around the results of the recent strike, but for the moment, the only candidate who can allow himself to be relaxed is Moshe Lion – as he is still the haredi sector’s official candidate (as long as Barkat does not run again).Discussions about the necessity to reach some kind of union between the candidates, or at least for now, between the pluralist and secular lists at city council, has become the talk of the day – but with no tangible results whatsoever. At this pace, Jerusalem will reach November 30 with, once again, many lists competing for city council, and worse, five or six candidates representing different factions of the pluralist sector. This is a feast for the democracy, and a proven recipe for yet another round of haredi supremacy at city council.True: The fact that there are, for now, five or six candidates is the unmistakable “Barkat effect” – that a young, secular, successful (in his business, certainly) man can find interest in becoming mayor of Jerusalem – something remarkable that never happened before. Until now, no candidate could win without the support of the haredi sector, even a part of it. But in reality, even without the Arab residents who still boycott the elections, the pluralist-Zionist sector is still the city’s largest.So why isn’t it duly represented at the council, and why might it fail to get representation at the helm of the city next year? Good question.
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