689 mayoral candidates, 1497 lists running in local races

Only seven mayors running unchallenged.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barket fields questions 370 (photo credit: DANIEL K. EISENBUD)
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barket fields questions 370
(photo credit: DANIEL K. EISENBUD)
Nearly 1,500 lists of council candidates, with 689 candidates for mayor in 191 local authorities will run in the October 22 municipal election, Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a press conference Monday.
There will be 8,711 polling stations, including 1,512 that are handicapped-accessible, compared to 6,500, of which only 839 were accessible to the handicapped in the last municipal race five years ago.
Sa’ar said extra steps were being taken to prevent vote tampering and other irregularities on election day. He vowed to change the law to prevent indicted candidates from serving as mayor.
“When there is a serious indictment, I think the values of clean governance and public trust in their local authorities should mean their term is over,” Sa’ar said, speaking after the recent indictment of mayors in Nazareth Illite, Ramat Hasharon, and Bat Yam.
There will be seven municipalities that will not have mayoral races because there is only one candidate: Givat Shmuel, Kfar Shmaryahu, Kiryat Motzkin, Kiryat Yam, Kedumim, Ghajar, and Ma’ale Ephraim.
The Interior Ministry will run an advertising campaign encouraging people to vote under the slogan “complaining is easy, but having an impact is even easier.”
“The elections in local authorities are an important decision in every municipality,” Sa’ar said. “They influence our lives as much and even more than general elections.”