Jerusalem's left wing public has no one to vote for

Jerusalem's left-wing secular residents have a problem: The city seems to have lost its secular identity. With neither Meretz nor Labor fielding a mayoral candidate, even Meretz activists - not to mention voters - are in confusion over whom to support in the municipal elections on November 11.

The head of the Meretz faction in the city council, Pepe Alalo, says he does not know who to vote for and is urging Meretz voters to support secular candidate Nir Barkat. However, number two on Meretz's list, Dr. Meir Margalit, recently said he prefers to vote for a moderate ultra-Orthodox candidate than for Barkat, who has taken an extreme right-wing stance and spoken out against dividing Jerusalem.

"I've participated in many election campaigns and have never voted with a blank ballot. I think that's irresponsible," says Alalo. "I'll decide at the last moment who to vote for."

Four candidates announced they were running for Jerusalem mayor last week - Meir Porush of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism, Barkat, Channel One television director Dan Biron, who is running on the Green Leaf ticket, and businessman Arcady Gaydamak.

Meretz councillor Saar Netanel, who recently ceased supporting his party's faction, said he would vote for Biron. Meretz has decided not to field its own candidate for mayor this time. After much deliberation, Alalo decided not to run himself, to prevent splitting the left-wing vote in the city and thus enable the ultra-Orthodox candidate Porush to win. Now he regrets this decision and says "I made a mistake in deciding not to run."

Unlike Margalit, Alalo says he will not support an ultra-Orthodox candidate. "That would be a mistake. The problem with the ultra-Orthodox candidates, including Lupolianski, is that it's very hard to cooperate with them. Barkat, on the other hand, understands the rules of the game. If we're strong, he will have to take us into account," he says.

Despite his right-wing positions, Barkat has gathered a supporters' coalition from both right and left. The Labor Party, which failed to get members into the city's incumbent city council, decided to support Barkat after he placed Labor's candidates on his list. Yisrael Beitenu also expressed support for Barkat.

Barkat's list also includes a number of Likud-affiliated figures, although the Likud is fielding its own list in the elections.

Several left-wing activists object to Barkat, however. Haim Baram, veteran columnist for the Jerusalem weekly Kol Ha'ir, said that in the last elections he did not vote for Barkat but for Lupolianski. This time he says he will not support any candidate. "I'm going to put a blank ballot in the mayoral polling envelope," he said yesterday. "The secular candidate [Barkat] is a nationalist. I have no candidate to vote for. For the city council I'll vote for Meretz. I wanted to vote for the Black Panthers, but they couldn't raise enough money for their campaign."

Baram says he was disappointed with Lupolianski. "I didn't like his treatment of the Gay Pride parade. Also, there's a feeling that the city is becoming increasingly ultra-Orthodox."

"This election campaign reflects Jerusalem's sorry state," says Netanel. "None of the candidates are inspiring or exciting. There's no sparkle, no charisma. It's a matter of choosing the lesser evil."

"We have nobody to vote for," says Netanel. "One candidate is ultra-Orthodox, and the other is secular but turns out to be an extreme right-winger lacking charisma. Biron's candidacy is mainly for protest, to present a candidate who is neither ultra-Orthodox nor a right-winger. He doesn't have a chance, but it's the statement that counts."

One clear demonstration of Jerusalem's loss of secular identity is the migration from the city. While in 1998, 1,100 people left Jerusalem, by 2007 this number had increased to 6,400, according to the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies' statistical almanac.

Most of those leaving the capital are ultra-Orthodox families who can't afford housing in Jerusalem and move to one of its satellite communities. However, increasing numbers of young secular people after their military service have been moving to the Tel Aviv metropolis in recent years. Another group consists of middle-aged and older couples who move to the Tel Aviv area in order to be closer to their children and the attractive entertainment hubs. Eight percent of the secular people leaving Jerusalem cited its increasingly ultra-Orthodox nature as one of the main reason for moving.