The seven municipalities in the North whose residents were evacuated at the beginning of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in October 2023 held belated municipal elections on Tuesday.
The municipalities, officially called “local authorities,” are: Kiryat Shmona Municipality, Shlomi Local Council, Mateh Asher Regional Council, Upper Galilee Regional Council, Mevo’ot Hahermon Regional Council, Ma’ale Yosef Regional Council, and Merom Hagalil Regional Council.
The elections were held after a number of delays. Countrywide municipal elections were held in February 2024, and municipal elections in the Gaza border communities were held in November 2024. The elections on Tuesday are the last municipalities to vote in the current cycle.
Residents aged 17 and up are eligible to vote in municipal elections, and there are 70,058 eligible voters for Tuesday’s election. In Shlomi, only one candidate, Gabriel (Gabby) Ne’eman, put his name forward, and therefore he will be declared automatic winner.
Unlike in the national election in Israel, voters in municipal elections place two ballot cards in the voting envelope – one for mayor, and one for a party on the city council.
Notable Kiryat Shmona race
A notable race is in Kiryat Shmona, where incumbent Avichai Stern is facing off against Likud’s Eli Zafrani.
Ronen Peretz, director-general of the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for the elections, said, “The Interior Ministry has prepared in a special way to allow even residents who have not yet returned to their homes to vote in the polling stations spread throughout the country, and we are working in cooperation with the relevant parties to ensure the purity of the elections, so that the procedure will be conducted in a transparent, fair, and safe manner for the voting public who live in the North.”