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“The current makeup of the city council does not properly represent the public, and that harms democracy,” said Anachnu spokesman Yossi Saidov. “Our goal is for the council to better reflect the demography of the city. We don’t tell people who to vote for. Our goal is to get people to vote. We want the Jerusalem public to express its views in the ballot box.”Saidov said the turnout in national and local elections are nearly the same in haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighborhoods, there is not a significant difference in well-off pluralist neighborhoods. But he said the difference is massive in outlying neighborhoods like Gilo, Kiryat Hayovel, Kiryat Menahem, and Armon Hanatziv.He said this discrepancy resulted in a city council that has 14 haredi city councilmen and another two National Religious councilmen who regularly voted with them on issues that harmed the secular population of the city.One major difference in this election is that for the first time for municipal elections, there will be a work holiday. But the organizers of Anachnu said they were worried that was not enough.“We hope the free day helps, but we also worry the people will use it to go to the beach,“ said Inbar Bluzer Shalem, one of the heads of Anachnu. “That is why we will be organizing happenings in partnership with community centers.”
New drive aims to up Jerusalem voter turnout
“The current makeup of the city council does not properly represent the public, and that harms democracy.”
![Israeli election ballots [File] (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/266109 "Israeli election ballots [File]")