In the video: promotional videos of the Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Leon/photo: Jerusalem Municipality
Jerusalem has always been considered a challenging city full of emotions, but the mayoral elections this time seem quite predictable.
The current mayor Moshe Leon is expected to win another term when his opponent Yossi Havilio will want to try to drag Leon, despite the low chances, to a second round.
Leon ran with great public support for another term and cultivated a broad coalition from all ends of the political system in the last term.
The ultra-Orthodox representatives mostly got what they asked for, and in the struggles Leon had a mandate to decide, he chose to bring them to the door of the court.
Moshe Leon/Flash 90, Tomer Neuberg
In the last five years, he has managed to lead many revolutions in this city: the streets (for the most part) are cleaner and in the east of the city the state of the infrastructure is improving, there is a construction boom that has not been seen for years and a huge hi-tech center that will bring not only the government offices to the city.
On the other hand - negative immigration is at its peak (the general public testifies that this is due to the quality of life and comfort in the city, according to a survey by the Jerusalem Institute), apartment prices are getting more expensive, property taxes are skyrocketing, and even if they don't mean it - yet another business closes its doors on Shabbat and the secular public feels pushed into a corner.
Although Habilio is running for mayor, he is mainly directing his power to as many seats as possible in the city council in light of the combination of the parties in his list that are competing in the upcoming elections in Jerusalem.
Havilio is a well-known urban activist who has been fighting long battles for the "free" image of the capital - from the pride parade he brought to the city to protection from the closure of entertainment venues on Shabbat.
He was even awarded the Knight of the Quality of Government for his struggle for proper administration and the rule of law.
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Although Habilio remained deputy mayor until the end of the term, he did not agree to withdraw for a moment from the public fight for the city - even when he decided to submit petitions as deputy mayor against moves in the municipality.
In his fight for mayor, he brings the antithesis of Leon without saying the mayor's name: to tear off the Band-Aid on the burning issues of the Jerusalem status quo, to take care of the general public in the city and to keep Jerusalem "free", as he defined it.
It is also possible to mention Adir Schwartz, who heads a revival movement that will try to repeat the achievement of Ofer Berkovich in the previous elections, and Hagit Moshe, who ran on behalf of religious Zionism and will also try to win as many seats as possible in the council.
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Moshe Leon