High Court overturns disqualification of a Haifa mayoral candidate

22 October 2018, 7:30 pm

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The High Court of Justice overturns the disqualification of a Haifa mayoral candidate in the October 30 local elections, while knocking a candidate from the central ultra-Orthodox city of Elad out of the running.

Einat Kalisch Rotem had been barred from running by the Interior Ministry and the Haifa District Court last week, after her Labor party attorney submitted two candidates, including Kalisch Rotem, to the race, in violation of the election rules. The High Court on Monday evening overturned the lower court’s decision.

The court, earlier on Monday, upheld the ban on Yitzhak Pindrus, the Shas and Degel HaTorah candidate in Elad. It ruled that though Pindrus, a former mayor of Beitar Illit and former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, had relocated from the capital to Elad in recent months simply to run for mayor, though his life continued to be based in the capital.

Yahav, a former Knesset member, has been mayor of Haifa since 2003. He is facing off against David Etzioni, a lawyer and former finance minister adviser; Mendy Saltzman, the director-general of the Haifa Port; Yisrael Savyon, the second Labor candidate and former director of the Haifa Municipality; and Avihu Hahn of the Haifa green party. Recent polls had placed Yahav, Kalisch Rotem, and Etzioni neck-and-neck, with the remaining candidates polling in the single digits.

— Marissa Newman