2018 Jerusalem mayoral election

The 2018 Jerusalem mayoral election was held on 30 October and 13 November 2018, to elect the mayor of Jerusalem.

2018 Jerusalem mayoral election

← 2013 30 October 2018 (first round) 13 November 2018 (runoff) 2024 →
Turnout	39.86% (first round) 35% (runoff)
Candidate Moshe Lion Ofer Berkovitch Party Our Jerusalem Hitorerut [he] First-round vote 81,426 73,079 First-round percentage 32.76% 29.40% Second-round vote 112,744 108,979 Second-round percentage 50.85% 49.15%   Candidate Ze'ev Elkin Yossi Daitsh Party Jerusalem Will Succeed Agudat Yisrael First-round vote 49,681 42,289 First-round percentage 19.99% 17.01%
Mayor before election Nir Barkat Independent politician Elected mayor Moshe Lion Independent politician

With no candidate in the first round meeting the vote threshold of 40% needed to avoid a runoff election, a runoff was held on 13 November.^[1] The election was won by Moshe Lion.

Incumbent mayor Nir Barkat did not seek re-election.

Background

In March 2018, incumbent mayor Nir Barkat announced he would forgo running for a third term, and would instead run on the Likud party's list in the next Knesset election.^[2]

Under a new national law, the 30 October election day was made a holiday. However, the day of the 13 November runoff election day was not.^[1]

The election was part of the 2018 Israeli municipal elections.

Candidates

Ran

Candidate	Background	Party
Moshe Lion	Member of the Jerusalem City Council, former chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority, candidate for mayor in 2013	Our Jerusalem	ירושלים שלנו‎, Yerushalayim Shelanu
Ofer Berkovitch	Member of the Jerusalem City Council[3]	Awakening [he]	התעוררות‎, Hit'orerut
Ze'ev Elkin	Member of the Knesset, Minister of Jerusalem affairs, Minister of Environmental Protection	Jerusalem Will Succeed	ירושלים תצליח‎, Yerushalayim Tatzli'ah
Yossi Daitsh	Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem[4]	Agudat Yisrael	אגודת ישראל‎
Avi Salman	Former aide to incumbent Mayor Nir Barkat[5]	I'm Jerusalem	אני ירושלים‎, Ani Yerushalayim

Withdrew

• Rachel Azaria, member of the Knesset (endorsed Elkin)^[6]
• Chaim Epstein, member of the Council of Jerusalem^[7][8]
• Aziz Abu Sarah, ran a campaign to become the first Arab mayor of Jerusalem since 1944. As the law does not allow permanent residents who are not citizens to run for the mayoral office, he petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the law. He withdrew saying that the Interior Ministry had refused to extend his laissez passer and having faced opposition from fellow Palestinians who mostly boycott local elections in Jerusalem.^[9]

First round

Campaigning

Lion had the backing of the city's Haredi parties, which are influential in city, which has population that is more than one-fifth Haredi (between only Jews more than a third are Haredi, Arab voters who make up an estimate four in ten city's residents boycott elections).^[3] Lion, who in his unsuccessful 2013 campaign for mayor had run as the Likud nominee, ran as an independent in 2018.^[10]

Berkovitch positioned himself as a secular leader, opposing the influence of the Haredi.^[3]

Elkin boasted the endorsements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and outgoing mayor Nir Barkat.^[3] He was considered the race's front-runner.^[11]

Unlike other Haredi political parties, the Hasidic party Agudat Yisrael did not support Lion, and instead backed the candidacy of Yossi Daitsh.^[1]

Berkovitch and Elkin assailed each other. Elkin characterized Berkovitch as young and incompetent. Berkovitch characterized the filthiness of the city as a direct failure of Elkin's as the nation's environmental minister. Berkovitch also cited allegations by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel against Elkin, which accused Elkin of using his ministerial post for self-enrichment.^[12]

Not originally seen as a leading candidate when he entered the race, Berkovitch was seen as benefiting from the crowded size of the field of candidates running, and rose to become a front-runner.^[13]

Polling

Date	Poll source	Rachel Azaria	Offer Berkovitch	Yossi Daitsh	Ze'ev Elkin	Chaim Epstein	Yosi Havilio	Moshe Lion	Avi Salman	Undecided
Late-October 2018	Shvakim Panorama[4]	-	30.7%	11.4%	23.6%	-	-	29.8%	0.4%	-
August 2018	Dialog (for Elkin campaign)[14]	5.8%	24.6%	20.3%	31.9%	-	-	13.0%
August 2018	Channel 2[15]	6%	22%	23%	21%	3%	4%	11%	1%
Early-August 2018	Berkovitch campaign[13]		26.9%	25.4%	-	-	-	11.1%

Results

The failure of Elkin to advance to the runoff was considered an upset defeat.^[3]

The results of the first round of voting in Jerusalem, with 254,326 voters participating of 638,065 eligible (a 39.86% turnout), are as follows. Of the 254,326 votes, 248,585 were valid.

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Moshe Lion	Our Jerusalem	81,426	32.76
	Ofer Berkovitch	Hitorerut [he]	73,079	29.40
	Ze'ev Elkin	Jerusalem will succeed	49,681	19.99
	Yossi Daitsh	Agudat Yisrael	42,289	17.01
	Avi Salman	I'm Jerusalem	2,110	0.85
Total			248,585	100.00
Valid votes			248,585	97.74
Invalid/blank votes			5,741	2.26
Total votes			254,326	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			638,065	39.86
Source: Reshumot, MyNet Jerusalem

Runoff

Campaigning

Heading into the runoff, Lion continued to enjoy backing from the Haredi community, including the endorsements of the Degel HaTorah and Shas Haredi political partie, as well as the right wing Yisrael Beiteinu party.^[10][1] However, the day before the election, the rabbinical council of the Agudat Yisrael party instructed their supporters not to vote in the runoff, which was seen as aiding Berkovitch's chances against Lion.^[1]

Lion was viewed in the runoff to be the candidate representing the right wing.^[10], Lion received the endorsement of outgoing mayor Barkat in the runoff, while Prime Minister Netanyahu did not endorse a candidate in the runoff. Lion was also endorsed in the runoff by the local chapters of the Likud and The Jewish Home parties, as well as several Likud party ministers.^[1]

As is typical, the Arab populace in East Jerusalem boycotted the election.^[7]

Polling

Hypothetical polling

With Berkovitch and Elkin

Date	Poll source	Offer Berkovitch	Ze'ev Elkin	Undecided
August 2018	Dialog (for Elkin campaign)[14]	38.8%	61.2%

Results

The results of the second round of voting in Jerusalem are as follows. The voter turnout was 35%.

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Moshe Lion	Our Jerusalem	112,744	50.85
	Ofer Berkovitch	Hitorerut [he]	108,979	49.15
Total			221,723	100.00
Valid votes			221,723	99.25
Invalid/blank votes			1,676	0.75
Total votes			223,399	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			638,065	35.01
Source: Reshumot, MyNet Jerusalem