On Wednesday, three major political bodies gave their support to candidate Moshe Leon for the Mayoral race in Jerusalem. The race is heading into a second round of voting on November 13th, as no single candidate received more than 40 percent of the vote in the original election last week. 40 percent is the minimum required in order to be elected as mayor of the city.

The other candidate in the second race for city hall is Ofer Berkowitz, who is seen by many to represent a more secular outlook with regards to the future of Israel’s capital city.

Berkowitz’s party Hitorerut leads the new city council as the largest party with 7 of the 31 seats. They are followed closely by Degel Hatorah with 6 sets, Shas with 5 seats and Agudas Yisroel with 3 as the next 3 largest parties. Another 7 parties round out the final 10 seats with no other party having more than 2 seats.

The Bayit Hayehudi party has 2 seats on the council and refused Berkowitz’s overtures as they claimed that he did not provide answers that were satisfactory enough regarding what they termed as “major issues” for the city. These issues included the status of east Jerusalem, money being allocated to Reform and Conservative initiatives in the city, the Pride Parade, and the future status of Shabbos in the city.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)