In the video: hearing of the indictment for bribery offenses against Haim Tzuri, former mayor of Kiryat Motzkin, at the Haifa district court/Shlomi Gabai
At the end of a tense battle for the mayorship of Motzkin, and the counting of all the double envelopes, this morning (Thursday) candidate Tsiki Avisher defeated his opponent, the incumbent and suspended mayor Haim Tzuri, who held his position for 30 years, in the local elections.
Tzuri was suspended from his position due to criminal offenses.
The difference between them was only 194 votes.
Tzuri said in response to the loss: "These are the results. I wish Avisher the best of luck and thank the residents of Kiryat Motzkin for 30 years who have allowed me to make this city one of the leading in the country. I thank all the employees of the municipality. I hope that the discourse in our country will change a little and that the soldiers and the abductees will all return home safely."
He added that he did not feel frustrated or angry due to the results, "I took down a screen a few days ago. I realized that maybe the time has come, and that's it."
Close fight between the mayor and his bitter rival.
Haim Tzuri and Tsiki Avisher/Shlomi Gabai
At the beginning of the counting process, the Director of Elections on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior, Nora Abu Rakia, presented the results of the regular ballots, which are supposed to be the basis on which the double envelope votes will be added.
But Avisher claimed that the data presented did not correspond to the photographs of the polling summaries, which were recorded by the members of the polling committees of the various factions, including that of his list, the "New Spirit in Motzkin" faction.
The outstanding unexplained gap is that, according to Avisher, Haim Tzuri "jumped" from a deficit of 50 votes to a lead of 5 votes over Tsiki Avisher.
In response to the reservation raised by the representatives of the factions, and as not only "a new spirit in Motzkin" appears, the director of elections replied that "it is not a binding formal figure at the current point in time".
More on the same topic:
Elections to local authorities
Kiryat Motzkin
Haim Tzuri