Barkat leads Lion as vote count begins

With nearly 5 percent of votes counted in Jerusalem, Mayor Nir Barkat has a comfortable lead of 59% over Moshe Lion’s 37%. However, the sectarian nature of the Holy City means that results in these early stages can swing wildly depending on which neighborhood’s ballots are being counted.

In Modi’in, mayor Haim Bibas is crushing his opponent Sharon Maoz with 90% of the vote, as he was expected to do.

in Bat Yam, Shlomo Lahiani, a popular mayor facing down corruption charges, is poised to retake the city, with 59% of votes after some 10 percent have been counted.

Ramat Gan, with 15 percent counted, shows Yisrael Zinger with a razor thin lead of a ferw hundred votes over former Knesset member Carmel Shama-Hacohen.