Photo Credit: Ben Zion Levy via Wikimedia
Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Yossi Deitch

A survey published Monday night by Meno Geva and Mina Tzemach of Midgam Institute examined the chances of the leading candidates in the Jerusalem mayoral elections, and found that the leader is the Haredi candidate, Deputy Mayor Yossi Deitch.

Local elections in Israel will be held on October 30, 2018

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According to the poll, which asked 517 respondents, Yossi Deitch leads the race for mayor with 23% of the vote. He is followed by secular candidate Ofer Berkowitz with 22%, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Environmental Protection Ze’ev Elkin with 21%, Moshe Leon with 11% and Rachel Azaria with 6%.

However, Deitch’s numbers are not good enough for a win. According to Israeli law, in the event that none of the candidates for head of a local municipality passes the threshold of 40% of the vote, there will be a second round, on November 13 this year.

The survey changes dramatically when it comes to the winner in the second round, giving Elkin the win in a race against Berkowitz, with a significant gap of about 10%. Elkin is also expected to win by 11% against Deitch. In a Barakowitz vs. Deitch second round, the difference between them is within the margin of error (3%). A race between Elkin and Leon also falls within the survey’s margin of error (2%).

The website B’Hadrei Haredim noted that Deitch is expected to present Monday’s results to the powers that be in the Haredi parties to encourage them to form a supporting block behind him, and to ditch the rest of the Haredi candidates in the race. If he manages to form such a block, Deitch could conceivably rustle up the coveted 40% in October.

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David writes news at JewishPress.com.