It is rather rare for two rivals to both claim victory over almost the same sample of votes cast in an election, but when it comes to Satmar it is more than possible.

After a day long back and forth number crunching spin drive, the two Satmar factions – The Zalis and the Ahronim – concluded that their equal share of the vote for the Democratic mayoral candidates, Bill de Blasio and Bill Thompson, make them the winners in the eye of the Hasidic electorate.

While Bill de Blasio carried Borough Park, he fell short in winning most of the precincts in the Jewish neighborhoods in Williamsburg. On the other hand, Zali leaders who promised to deliver more than 10,000 votes for Bill Thompson managed to only deliver 50 percent of the promise – 5,079 votes (according to the Zali count — or 5615 votes according to the Ahronim count). Not to mention, that their choice for mayor ultimately lost the race to Mr. de Blasio, who was endorsed by the Ahronim on Sunday evening.

“We have probably 2000 or so people voting in predominantly non hasidic sites which are not included in this listing plus almost 1000 absentees and affidavits,” one of the Zali leaders told YWN. “As you can all see in the pure Jewish areas, for example Heyward, we had 65 percent. This is consisted with what we had in the past elections.”

Another leader, who spoke off the record, told YWN: “If you count the total votes in the Orthodox community in Brooklyn the majority goes for Thompson not Deblasio. Its easy to cherry pick EDs to support a claim that Mr. de Blasio “won big” in Orthodox Brooklyn, when in fact total votes cast in the Orthodox community in Brooklyn went for Thompson,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ahronites claimed Tuesday’s Democratic Primary Election provided clear evidence of the growing prominence of the Aaroni faction of Satmar Hasidim in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The amounts of votes for Bill de Blasio run between the range of 3374 to 4204, based on the two counts of the Hasidic precincts obtained by YWN.

Based on their internal count, the Aaroni faction of Satmar has become approximately 43% (or 40% based on the Zali count) of Hasidic Williamsburg area polling sites. In addition, Satmar claims to have played a large role in Bill de Blasio’s Borough Park win, supplying Mr. de Blasio additional 2,500 votes (an assessment harder to prove as accurate).

“This is the third election with this kind of contention and energy, showing a continued and steady growth,” said Isaac Sofer, Director of Governmental Affairs for the Central United Talmudical Academy. “And going forward we will continue to solidify our block vote across Brooklyn, growing to a strong and positive force for the wider community.”

“The Aaroni community’s electoral presence has grown enormously, culminating yesterday with over 7,000 votes cast for Bill de Blasio for Mayor between Williamsburg and Boro Park,” explained Aaroni spokesman and political consultant Michael Tobman. “Similarly, the community decided not to oppose Councilman Stephen Levin, as they were troubled with the tone of his opponents campaign, preferring instead to focus their energies on supporting de Blasio.”

An unofficial spokesperson for the Zali faction dismissed Mr. Tobman’s account of not opposing Stephen Levin in his reelection bid. “Levin crushed his opponent, top vote getter in City Council, double the number of votes Greenfield got, despite ignoring the Ahroinim completely for 4 years,” he said during a long conversation with YWN. “That’s a strong fact that still keep the Zalis as the King makers in Williamsburg. Despite of what the Ahroinim promised over the years that they will remove him by the upcoming elections, now they didn’t even have the guts to endorse his opponent knowing that he has no chance of winning if the Zalis vote against him.”

Regardless, the Orthodox Jewish community earned high praise in the media for coming out to vote in higher numbers than other Ethnic groups.

New York Times’ columnist Michael Powell included the Orthodox Jewish voting bloc — “who at the urging of their leaders voted for William C. Thompson Jr. in nearly the same numbers as black New Yorkers, in that way establishing their line discipline, if perhaps not their political savvy” — as winners of primary day.

Overall, Mr. de Blasio received 39% of the Jewish vote citywide, according to an exit poll. Quinn received 24% of the Jewish vote, Thompson 22% and Anthony Weiner a mere 5%.

According to the exit poll, Jews made up 19% of the electorate in the Democratic primary.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)