The current Jerusalem Mayor, Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky, head of
the Degel Hatorah faction of United Torah Judaism and founder
of the Yad Sarah chesed organization, announced that
he will be a candidate for the position of Jerusalem mayor. The
elections are to be held on June 3/3 Sivan, just over a month
from now.
On Monday, Rabbi Lupoliansky discussed his decision with
Maran HaRav Yosef Sholom Eliashiv, explaining his hopes and
calculations. HaRav Eliashiv gave him a brochoh for
success. Following Rabbi Lupoliansky's announcement, MK Rabbi
Meir Porush, who had put out feelers in the race, said that
he would not run for mayor.
Rabbi Lupoliansky becomes the immediate front runner in the
campaign and he has a very good chance of winning,
be'eizer Hashem. If the religious community unites
behind him, as looks likely, he will not need much additional
support to put him over the top. As the founder of Yad Sarah
that helps everyone, Rabbi Lupoliansky enjoys support from
many grateful citizens who are not religious. As an expert in
management with a broad perspective, he can be expected to
introduce innovations and reforms that will be applauded by
everyone.
No other major candidate has yet announced, nor is any likely
to announce now that Rabbi Lupoliansky has thrown his hat
into the ring. Final campaign slates must be filed by April
30.
The current Likud candidate is Deputy Mayor Yigal Amadi, who
is relatively unknown. He is a protege of former mayor Ehud
Olmert who resigned to join the national Cabinet after the
recent Knesset elections. Olmert won the support of the
chareidim in Jerusalem both times he won as mayor, but he
burned his bridges with the chareidi community when he worked
hard to bring together Shinui with NRP to set up the current
anti-religious national government under Sharon. Chareidi
leaders considered his actions ungrateful and bitterly
disappointing after more than a decade of cooperation in
Yerushalayim. As a result of the resentment, any Likud
candidate would have a hard time winning chareidi support in
Yerushalayim.
The Labor party has not announced a candidate. The Jerusalem
Labor party approached several national figures, but they all
declined. It is clear that the Labor candidate has no chance
of winning in Yerushalayim where the chareidim make up over
30 percent of the registered voters and over 40 percent of
those actually voting on election day in most elections. It
was clear that a strong Labor candidate might improve the
position of the Labor party in the city council, but he could
not be elected mayor. No one was interested in that
situation.
Another current candidate is millionaire businessman Nir
Barakat who has been running a self-financed, independent
campaign for several months. He has achieved some standing in
the polls but without an established political organization
behind him, his chances are not good against Rabbi
Lupoliansky who has the considerable UTJ organization of
Yerushalayim behind him.
Yerushalayim has serious problems including a budget deficit
of NIS 400 million. As mayor for the past few months and a
prominent member of the City Council for 12 years, Rabbi
Lupoliansky should know the situation well. He has also won
awards for his technical managerial achievements in Yad
Sarah, so his confidence that he can manage the municipal
problems is credible.
Whoever is head of Yerushalayim will have to make some
accommodation with the chareidim. In the current city
council, UTJ is the largest party with its seven seats but it
constitutes only 17 percent of the fragmented council.
Together with Shas and NRP, the religious representatives are
about 40 percent of the current council.
Shinui controls the Interior Ministry which is always an
important ministry of cities since most national government
support for the municipalities passes through it. This a
hurdle that any mayor of Jerusalem would face.
