(VIDEOS AND PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Following are updates from the various parties and candidates as they pertain to the chareidi tzibur vis-à-vis the upcoming municipal elections throughout Israel, which are scheduled for Tuesday, 21 Marcheshvan.

Maran’s Daughter Endorses Dr. Aliza Bloch in Beit Shemesh Mayoral Race
In a move that delivers a blow to the Shas party, Rebitzen Aliza Bar-Shalom, a daughter of HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef ZT”L ZY”A has come out endorsing Dr. Aliza Bloch in the Beit Shemesh mayoral race, not the incumbent, Shas-affiliated mayor Moshe Abutbul.

With polls showing a tight race between the two candidates, an endorsement from Bar-Shalom may swing chareidim who are yet undecided to vote for Bloch, who is dati leumi. Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel is particularly worrisome to Shas, well-aware there are residents in the newer area of the city who may vote for Bloch, with many of those residents identified as so-called working chareidim. In addition, Bloch’s campaign has targeted RBS Gimmel, showing the chareidi has done little there in the way of religious services, regarding the construction of shuls, schools and mikvaos.

Bar-Shalom will be a guest speaker at a Bloch election rally on motzei Shabbos.

Walla Poll: Kalish-Rotem May Unseat Longtime Haifa Mayor
With less than a week remaining until municipal elections throughout Israel, polls show longtime serving Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav may lose his bid for reelection to Einat Kalish-Rotem, the candidate backed by both Degel Hatorah and Shas.

The 74-year-old former IDF Lt.-Colonel has been serving as the city’s mayor since 2003. Prior to that, he was an advisor to Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek, elected to Knesset on the Labor ticket in 1996, and then lost his seat in the 1999 elections.

It appears the fact was ousted on a technicality by a court, and then reinstated by the High Court of Justice, has earned her tremendous notoriety and popularity.

In fact, a poll conducted by Panels Politics for Walla News shows none of the contestants in the six-person race will earn sufficient votes to become mayor in the first round of voting. The list is led by Kalish Rotem with 38%, followed by Yahav with 19%. This would demand a runoff second vote.

In the runoff second vote, Kalish-Rotem receives 58% to Huldai’s 24%, more than a comfortable lead.

The poll also asks eligible Haifa voters if they plan to vote, and 63% state with certainty they will, while 28% believe they will, 6% do not plan on it and 3% remain undecided.

Poll Watchers in Yehuda & Shomron Will be Paid on Election Day
Deputy Defense Minister (Bayit Yehudi) Eli Ben-Dahan signed an order stating members of the Election Committee in Yehuda and Shomron will be paid for their service on Election Day.

During recent months, legal experts in the Defense Ministry, Interior Ministry, Justice Ministry and others have been working to amend the regulations so that they are the same as throughout ‘Israel proper’. The initiative was recently passed into law in Knesset.

Head of Tzohar Rabbonim Endorses Elkin for Mayor
Rabbi Rafi Feuerstein, rav of the Dati Leumi Shul in Har Nof as well as founder of Tzohar Rabbonim, endorses Ze’ev Elkin’s bid to become the next mayor of Jerusalem.

In the photo, we see Elkin visiting the prominent Feuerstein Institute in Jerusalem.

MQG Turns to AG Mandelblit against DM Lieberman & Moshe Leon
The Movement for Quality Government has sent an urgent letter to Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan and Police Commissioner Roni Alshich demanding a criminal probe against Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Jerusalem mayoral candidate Moshe Leon.

The letter is prompted by the Yediot Achronot report released on Thursday that they cut a deal involving chareidi parties pertaining to the new draft law being passed in a more palatable version for Degel Hatorah and Shas in exchange for promoting Leon’s candidacy for mayor of Yerushalayim.

Hanegbi Rejects Request – Elad Election Will Not be Postponed
Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, who was given the authority by the cabinet to render a decision regarding a request to postpone the election in Elad has decided not to grant the request. As such, the municipal election in Elad will take place Tuesday, 21 Marcheshvan as scheduled, but there will not be a candidate from Degel Hatorah and Shas since Yitzchak Pindrus was disqualified when the High Court of Justice rejected a request to overturn a lower court’s ruling.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem/Photo Credit: קבוצת רוטרניק)