By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
An Eilat mayoral candidate's attempt to keep Mayor Meir Yitzhak Halevy from appearing at public events before the November 11 municipal election has been rejected by an elections committee judge, reports www.local.co.il. Candidate Rafi Hochman had sought to keep the mayor from appearing at municipal ceremonies on the grounds that this amounted to "election propaganda," but judge Eliezer Rivlin said normal activities should not be paralyzed just because an election was taking place.
According to the report, Hochman - who was mayor of Eilat himself from 1983 to 1993 - appealed to the elections committee to prevent Halevy - mayor since 2003 - from appearing at public events and ceremonies. But judge Rivlin said there was no reason that an election should paralyze the normal functioning of a local authority or its mayor.
"In this case the plaintiff (Hochman) is complaining about the appearance of the mayor at events that take place every year, such as the Eilat Jazz Festival, the opening of the school year, and activities of the community center," the judge said. He said such events should still go ahead with the mayor present as usual, although he added a caution that they should not be used to disseminate political propaganda directly or indirectly before the election. No response was reported from Hochman or Halevy.
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