Rabbi Tzvi Cohen, maranan verabonon's candidate of
choice for the post of Elad City Council, won the election
with a large majority of 80 percent of all votes. A united
chareidi list called Shay -- Shas, Degel HaTorah Ve'olam
Hachassidut -- won 9 of 13 seats on the local council.
The final vote count was received by Central Election
Committee Head Mr. Talawi, deputy director of the Interior
Ministry's Central District, and Shay Election Committee
members Rabbi Attorney Shmuel Grossman, Rabbi Moshe Mordechai
Cohen and Rabbi Chaim Bernstein.
Degel HaTorah representatives Rabbis Tzvi Herbst and Shmuel
Grossman will serve as deputy mayors. Rabbi Chaim Meir Katz,
director of Elad's Vishnitz institutions, was chosen to
represent Shas and Olam Hachassidut.
Based on calls by gedolei Yisroel, dozens of activists
from Elad and elsewhere helped promote the united list on
Election Day. All of the party bureaus around the city
operated smoothly, attending to every detail with
precision.
Numerous public figures from across the political spectrum
arrived in the city on Election Day to lend their
encouragement to the list, which unites Jews of every
background. At the end of the ballot count, dozens of
activists assembled in the municipal hall on Rechov Avtalyon,
where the results were screened by the party's computer
staff. Later, party heads Rabbis Tzvi Cohen, Tzvi Herbst,
Shmuel Grossman and Moshe Mordechai Cohen arrived and were
joined by Degel HaTorah Secretary Rabbi Moshe Gafni, Bnei
Brak Deputy Mayor Rabbi Yaakov Asher and Shas leaders. HaRav
Shlomo Zalman Grossman, the city's moro d'asro and
av beis din, spoke at the event and HaRav Shmuel
Cohen, rov of Elad's Kehillat Bnei HaTorah HaSephardim, was
also on hand in honor of the event.
Elad public figures told Yated Ne'eman that the
election results represent a significant breakthrough for the
flourishing city as thousands of bnei Torah families
move into its dozens of neighborhoods. With the election
success and the change in leadership, the city will march
forward in both ruchniyus and gashmiyus, they
said.
The Shay list received a total of 4,946 votes compared to
1,009 for Koach, the general Chassidic list, which won two
seats. NRP candidate Shmuel Amrussi received 984 votes (14.3
percent) and the party took two council seats as well.
No seats went to Luk-Kan (71 votes), Elad Shelanu-Zach-
Tzuriel Krispal (the former mayor -- 136 votes) or Machal
(191 votes).
Mayor Elect Rabbi Tzvi Cohen received a total of 7,253 votes,
compared to 1,036 for Shmuel Amrussi, 235 for Tzuriel Krispal
and 141 for Alon Luk.
Of the 8,898 eligible voters 83 percent turned out at the
polls. A minimum of 500 votes was needed to gain a seat. The
outgoing council has a total of 9 seats compared to 13 on the
newly elected council.
