Jerusalem City Council Member from the Shas faction, Pini Ezra, sent a personal letter to thousands of Yeshiva students who study in the city but do not live there, asking them to change their official address to be inside the city of Jerusalem. The impetus behind the move, is to enable the students to then vote in Jerusalem’s municipal election this coming fall and help influence the vote in favor of the Chareidi party.
Ezra’s letter was reported by Bchadrei Charedim as saying: “Ahead of the upcoming municipal elections that are set to take place of the 21st of Cheshvan (October 30th), I am asking all Yeshiva students who learn in the city of Jerusalem and stay in the dormitories, who enjoy the services of our city’s council on a daily basis to utilize the opportunity that they have and officially change their address to be within the city of Jerusalem, in the dormitories in which they live.
Their are thousands of Torah students who do not utilize their right to vote in the city in which they live. This round of municipal elections may be one of the most important ones for the G-d fearing communities of the city. The election will determine the nature of our city for years to come.”
Ezra even invited the Yeshiva students to come to his office and make the official switch their with the help of his office staff working together with the Interior Ministry.
In the past, similar tactics have been used by secular parties in Jerusalem and Chareidi parties in cities like Rishon LeZion, Elad, and others.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Not really what gerrymandering means.
Go for it!We need something to counter all the anti-religious students at Hebrew university who have been encouraged to register and vote in the Jerusalem City elections.
How is this different than in the United States, where an arbitrary number of college-university students studying away from their “home state” can “register” in their local state and then vote in local elections?
That is not “Gerrymandering” (arranging district boundaries for political advantage), since Israel uses proportional representation exclusively. Getting students to change their address is probably reasonable, since who would ever want to leave Yerusalayim.
“Electoral packing” is a form of gerrymandering. In the USA we usually think of gerrymandering as redrawing district lines to look like a salamander or lizard.
Just saying.
Shas
will as usual give the religious a bad name