October 22 is about five months away, but time is of the essence when it comes to the campaign for the next mayoral elections. Hence the inauguration on May 16 of Mayor Nir Barkat’s headquarters and the official launch of his campaign to remain at the helm of the city council for the next five years.Barkat is a meticulous man. Thus far he doesn’t have any competition in the running for the position of mayor, but he isn’t taking any chances. The large and well-equipped headquarters on Shlomo Hamelech Street and his large, well-organized staff – every detail announces loud and clear Barkat’s firm intention not to overlook any opportunity to win. As for his staff, it is interesting to note that they are all former members of his staff at the municipality. Whether it is due to lack of time or lack of confidence in new people he hasn’t known long enough, Barkat has chosen a peculiar solution. Most of his closest staff at the head of the municipality resigned and immediately joined the campaign staff – old faces, new environment, and still in the neighborhood.The fact that Barkat doesn’t have any contender for the moment doesn’t mean that there is no criticism about the way he has been leading the city. On the contrary. The criticism ranges from his failure – and, to be honest, Barkat is the first to admit it – to clean up the city and the lack of government funding to the dramatic lack of employment opportunities for the young generation. But the problem of Barkat’s having no opponents lies somewhere else, and no one has had the nerve to challenge him.The number of those who openly oppose the mayor is not very high, and they all share one thing: For one reason or another, they feel that Barkat hasn’t given them what they expected or that he has blatantly disregarded them on a personal basis. First in line are the haredi representatives, mostly from United Torah Judaism. To say that they are not impressed by the large number of cultural events added to the city’s life during Barkat’s years as mayor would be an understatement. “We don’t go to these events anyway, and that’s beside the fact that we do not receive the funding we have the right to have for our kinds of cultural events,” says Deputy Mayor Yitzhak Pindrus, head of UTJ on the city council.But for Pindrus and his fellow members of the haredi parties (including the four members of Shas), it’s much more than frustration over the growing number of outdoor events or leisure facilities that offer secular cultural activities and/or are open on Shabbat.According to Pindrus and other haredi representatives, Barkat simply has not delivered the goods. Lack of housing plans for the haredi community has caused many haredi families who didn’t want to leave the city to buy or rent in secular neighborhoods. “If a haredi family moves into a secular neighborhood, the reactions are tough – we are looked upon as intruders. But we don’t have anywhere to go, so what should we do – disappear? If the mayor and the government do not see to it that we have our own neighborhoods, we have no other choice. But then we are not welcome, so what should we do?” he says.As a result, Pindrus says that the haredim are actively seeking an alternative candidate for mayor.A few names have been bandied about recently, but for the moment there is only one that seems to be gaining the most support. After Aryeh Deri stepped down following his victory as the head of Shas in the Knesset, his rival Eli Yishai was, according to rumors, a potential candidate.“He could have had a chance, since most of the city’s religious people are of Mizrahi origin,” says a haredi man. “But only if the Ashkenazi haredim had agreed to support him. But that didn’t happen, mainly because his political positions are too far to the Right.”Another name mentioned was Reuven Rivlin, former Speaker of the Knesset, who was quite upset about being dismissed from that position. But it seems that Rivlin, who had already suffered a political blow, didn’t want to risk another failure and made it clear that he would run for mayor only if he could be totally assured of a victory, something no one could guarantee.And then came the wild card: Uri Lupolianski.This is not a love story. Some of us still remember how miserable Lupolianski’s life was made by his own constituency during his term as mayor. But he could win. Many traditional residents and even some secular voices believe in a haredi leadership. So if his involvement in the Holyland real-estate scandal doesn’t prevent him from doing so, Lupolianski might ultimately be Barkat’s challenger in October. •
