The number of ballot boxes in the local Israeli elections reached 12,000, and seven million are entitled to participate (Al Jazeera)

Occupied Jerusalem

- After repeated postponement under the pressure of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle, polling stations opened their doors, since seven o’clock in the morning on Tuesday, in Israel for the local council elections, which will continue until ten o’clock in the evening.

According to data from the Israeli Ministry of the Interior, elections are being held in 197 municipalities and village councils and 45 regional councils, including 13 municipalities, 77 Arab councils, and 4 Arab regional councils inside Palestine. There are also 34 Arab towns within Jewish regional councils and joint municipalities (the regional council includes several Residential communities or groups of settlements).

The Israeli Ministry of Interior was forced to postpone the elections for local authorities and municipalities that were scheduled for October 31, 2023, due to the war on Gaza, the repercussions of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and the escalation on the northern front with Hezbollah.

The elections were postponed for the first time to January 30, 2024, and in light of the security escalation, their date was postponed again to February 27.

Also because of the war, the Ministry of Interior decided to postpone elections in 14 regional councils and local authorities in the “Gaza envelope” settlements, and along the border with Lebanon due to the evacuation of towns’ residents, until October 2024.

1.1 million Arabs from 48 have the right to vote in local elections (Al Jazeera)

The most complex

According to data from the Israeli Central Elections Commission, the percentage of Arab residents voting in the last local elections in 2018 reached 84%, while the percentage among Jews reached 55%, while the general rate among Arabs and Jews reached 59%.

About 7,190,000 people are entitled to vote in the elections, including 1.1 million from 1948 Palestinians. The number of ballot boxes is 12,000, and 3,705 lists are competing for the presidency and membership of municipalities, local authorities, and regional councils.

These elections are considered the most complex in Israel, as the security situation since the events of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7 had a major impact on the electoral system.

This came after the Supreme Court rejected a petition submitted by dozens of candidates who demanded that the elections be postponed until the end of October 2024.

The postponements and security conditions harmed the ability of candidates and competitors for the presidency and membership of local authorities to continue electoral propaganda, and prevented discussion and presentation of the burning local issues that were overshadowed by the war, its economic and social repercussions, and the file of those detained by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip.

Indifference

However, Avner Hofstein, a journalist for the “Zaman Yisrael” website, says, “Postponing the elections for 5 months due to the war created a state of indifference and apathy among the Israelis and put them in a state of lethargy regarding municipal issues, and residents stopped caring about wastewater, or real estate taxes, Or developing municipal business or real estate value.”

Local authority elections are often viewed even by contenders and candidates across the country, according to Hofstein, “as less interesting, and perhaps even boring, compared to general elections for the Knesset. Accordingly, their voter turnout rate is also low at 59% compared to the Knesset elections.” The latter reached 70%.

The Israeli journalist explained that residents in "Israeli towns" are paying the price because of the war, as the local authority is considered extremely important in the daily lives of residents, and in everything related to property tax payments, the education that children receive, care for the environment, the development of businesses, and religious and social services.

Under the umbrella of the war in Gaza, Hofstein continues: “There will not even be an electoral battle in many cities and towns, and in more than 10 municipalities the field is empty and there is only one candidate, while in 12 authorities and municipalities there are competing mayors who are being tried on charges of corruption and breach of trust, and despite this "Their chances of remaining in the presidency are very high."

For his part, Israeli writer Shalom Yerushalmi says that the Haredi parties, especially the "Shas" party headed by Aryeh Deri, which controls the Israeli Ministry of the Interior, took advantage of the war conditions and the state of indifference on the part of the Israelis, and pushed for not postponing the local government elections until next October, in order to strengthen the country's position. His party in many Jewish towns.

Yerushalmi added in his article on the Zaman Yisrael website that local government has become extremely important for many parties, especially religious and settler parties, as managing the local authority constitutes a lever for the party or movement to strengthen its presence in the Knesset and its influence in the government coalition.

According to Yerushalmi’s reading, the head of the Shas movement, Aryeh Deri, is competing for the presidency of the local authorities’ government, as he is looking to strengthen the ranks of the ultra-Orthodox movement (religious Jews) - which does not serve in the Israeli army and whose followers are not on the battle fronts - in the major Israeli cities to the strongholds of competing political movements. Such as "Jewish greatness" and "religious Zionism."

Aryeh Deri, head of the extremist Jewish Shas party (Getty)

"Gloomy reality"

From the point of view of Sivan Hila, local government and parliamentary affairs correspondent for Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the elections for local authorities under the shadow of war are completely different from previous electoral rounds, as their repercussions were present, such as attention to the displaced, detainees, and families of reserve soldiers, while daily population issues, services, and development in all areas were absent. life.

Hella explained that a strong municipal authority can also be active in a state of emergency and fill the void left by government ministries that failed to carry out their duties during the war, and here lies the importance of local government, which faces many challenges.

Under the title “Indifference to the municipal elections may cost us dearly,” lawyer Yifat Solel wrote an article on the website “Siha Mekumit,” noting that the majority of the Israeli public does not have the energy to be concerned with parking or educational matters, and the economy in the shadow of war and the loss of personal security.

But as fanciful as it sounds, Soleil says: “There is a real fear that we will wake up next week to a political reality in local government that is much darker than the current reality in light of the efforts made by the Likud, the Haredim, and the far-right parties to expel their voters from homes.”

She explained that it is not a coincidence that elections were held for local government even though the war is still ongoing, adding that "the right-wing and Haredi parties are exploiting the fact that the majority of the Israeli public is dispersed and lives in a state of indifference and indifference to voting, in order to try to control the authorities and increase their power in the joints of government."

Source: Al Jazeera