Huldai takes TA, but opposition grows

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, who won a third five-year term in office, will begin setting up a broad coalition on Sunday.

Huldai won 50.7 percent of the vote, and Hadash MK Dov Khenin pulled in 34 percent. Challenger Oren Shachor placed third.

The victorious Huldai said he was "incredibly privileged to serve as the mayor of Tel Aviv during its centennial." However, unlike his previous term, in which he had a huge 29 strong majority in the 31-member council, Huldai will now have to contend with the lively opposition led by the Ir Lechulanu (A City for Us All) list.

Huldai's campaign manager Nissim Duek said he was relieved. "We had to face an increasingly fashionable [rival] with very limited resources, contrary to what people might think. Almost all of our rivals ran very aggressive campaigns."

"Dov Khenin did a marvelous job," he added, "but they forgot that Tel Aviv is not just [the bohemian] Rothschild Boulevard."

Ir Lechulanu activists received the election results with pride mixed with disappointment.

The non-aligned list raked in the largest number of votes for the city council - 20,605 - tantamount to five seats. Huldai's list, One Tel Aviv, won 19,503 votes, also five seats, one more than it had in the previous term.

The Pensioners' list won only three seats, compared to six in the previous term. Meretz won three seats, Rov Hair 3, the Greens three, the United Religious Front 2, Shas 2, the Likud 2, Yafa 2, Let Lihiyot 1 and Social Justice 1.

Huldai aides said that 150,000 people, 37.5 percent of Tel Avivians, voted on Tuesday.

Conceding defeat, Khenin said he would continue to serve as Knesset member and head of Ir Lechulanu.

"We are certainly happy that this is a higher voter turnout than the previous elections in 2003," Khenin campaign officials said. "Yet, this is still a lower turnout than we would have liked. We are certain that a considerable part of the fact that the campaign was galvanized in recent months is to our credit."