Public opinion polls taken in the city show that the former Meretz party leader posed the biggest threat to current Mayor Ron Huldai.
By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)Yossi Sarid 88 224(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Former Knesset member Yossi Sarid has ruled out his candidacy for mayor of Tel Aviv in the coming municipal elections, reports Yediot Tel Aviv. According to public opinion polls taken in the city, even before any official announcement of his candidacy was made, the former Meretz party leader posed the biggest threat to current Mayor Ron Huldai's winning a third term in office come this November.
According to the report, after Sarid left national politics in 2006, he raised hopes that he would enter local politics in Tel Aviv. "My dream is to prove to Tel Avivians that it is possible to steer the municipal system with clean hands," Sarid said in an interview. "First, I love Tel Aviv … the city has had better mayors and worse mayors. I don't think Huldai is the worst of all, but there seem to be a lot of people who think Tel Aviv deserves someone better."
But as time went by, Sarid appeared to be in no rush to confirm that he would offer himself as a mayoral candidate, and now he has announced that he has decided not to run for the position. "To be a candidate for mayor of Tel Aviv, a person has to want it very much," Sarid said. "I wanted it, but not enough. It is impossible to run as candidate in an election campaign ambivalently. It seems my other occupations (as a political commentator in the media) interest me more."
The report said the decision was "good news" for Huldai, who in Sarid would have been faced with the only real threat to winning yet another term in office.
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