Arkady Gaydamak, Nir Barkat, and Meir Porush
Meet the candidates for the Mayor of Jerusalem. The election is to take place on November 11, and has serious implications for this city. It represents a real struggle in this city between the Chasidic community and the secular community. *Note - in most of the world, secular means non-religious, or perhaps agnostic. Here in the Holy Land, secular means any Jew who does not wear black wool and doesn't sport a ginormous beard. This is very much a pivotal election for the city and people of Jerusalem. The city is thriving once again, but is in desperate need of infrastructure upgrades. Nir Barkat is the front-runner who promises not to let the 'Chasidization' of Jerusalem to continue. Meir Porush is publically talking much of the same talk as Porat, but I assume that's just to garner more votes.
Municipal elections around the country will be held on November 11. There is no early or absentee voting, to the chagrin of many many people. But, as they say here, 'zeh mah sh'yesh' - that's the way it is.
Barkat is a young high-tech entrepreneur, very dynamic. Porush is an ultra-Orthodox councilman who has gone out of his way to push his campaign in non-ultra-Orthodox forums. Many feel that there would be little change between the way Jerusalem is run now under Mayor Lupoliansky and Porush (both ultra-Orthodox). Arkady Gaydamak is a Russian-Israeli billionaire tycoon who owns some sports clubs, has donated millions upon millions to help Israel's most vulnerable populations (most notably stepping up and donating millions to the beleaguered people of Sderot during the 2006 Lebanon War). His campaign is very well-funded an wide-spread, but he is well behind in the polls.
For more on the candidates, see this great article in the Los Angeles Times: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/10/israel-the-next.html
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