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PHOTO FILE: Jerusalem mayoral candidate Moshe Lion and his wife voted in the second round of local elections in Jerusalem on November 13, 2018. REUTERS / Ammar AwadReuters
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A A Jewish religious candidate won the Jerusalem mayoral election Wednesday in a clash against a secular candidate for a post that shapes Israel's reign over the holy city, at the heart of his conflict with the Palestinians.
Moshe Lion, a bureaucrat dressed in a favorite hats of two key members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government, defeated Ofer Berkovitch, the 35-year-old deputy mayor, after not taking enough votes at a contest of five candidates two weeks ago outright.
The almost final results after the second round gave Lion nearly 52% of the vote.
Voting took place in the context of Israeli municipal elections nationwide, during which many candidates ran independently or on non-traditional lists, making any assessment of Wider political impact of the results.
Although Netanyahu's approval ratings were strong, Zeev Elkin, a prominent member of his party and cabinet member who ran for mayor of Jerusalem with his blessing, came in third in the first round of voting.
The Jerusalem vote was largely boycotted by the Palestinians, who represent one-third of the city's population. They live in East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed in a movement that has not achieved international recognition.
Many Palestinians in Jerusalem complain about the negligence of the Israeli municipality. A Palestinian candidate who resisted the boycott by standing as a candidate for the City of Jerusalem Administrative Council failed to gather enough votes to enter.
Both Lion and Berkovitch have sworn to appeal to all areas of the city, 21% of its Jewish population is secular, 43% are religious and 36% ultra-Orthodox.
(Report by Jeffrey Heller, edited by Andrew Heavens)
Copyright 2018 Thomson Reuters.
