” – the elections in the haredi Bukharan Quarter, which includes Mea She’arim. Oh, what a feast! True, plainclothesmen and police officers in uniform were deployed here and there, but nothing had been organized to prevent any provocation, even though anyone who has been living here for even a short time could have foreseen it.

66:{"position":9,"content":"$67"} 68:{"position":10,"content":"And provocation there was. But contrary to what was reported in the media, it did not have much to do with the issue of excluding women but rather with internal disputes among opposing sects within the haredi community."} 69:{"position":11,"content":"At polling station C on Straus Street, everything went smoothly on voting day until the last 20 minutes before closing time (scheduled for 10 p.m.), when a group of supporters of one faction of the Breslov sect challenged the rival segment of the sect."} 6a:{"position":12,"content":"(There are two Breslov sects – the original Breslovers, mostly Ashkenazim, and the repentant sect, mostly Sephardim, which doesn’t share any of the friendship and love principles of the hassidic stream – but that’s another story.) As a result of their eruption in the polling station, the ballot box was opened, the ballots were annulled and, on the way, the women who were there were hustled out in disrespect

Casting votes - and aspersions

The second round of community council elections was anything but mundane.