Jerusalem picks secular mayor
Secular businessman Nir Barkat appeared headed toward victory early today over an ultra-Orthodox Jewish leader in Jerusalem’s mayoral race, a contest that again exposed the deep divide between religious and secular Israelis.
With nearly all of the results in, Israel’s Channel 2 TV reported that just over 52 percent of the city’s voters had supported Barkat over Meir Porush. That tally was matched by the country’s two other main television stations and the Web sites of all three major newspapers.
Barkat claimed victory before dawn and promised to be "everybody’s mayor."
Porush received just over 43 percent of the vote, according to Channel 2 and the Web site of Israel’s largest newspaper, Yediot Ahronot.
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Barkat is a venture capitalist in his second try for the mayor’s job. Porush, 53, has been an imposing figure on the ultra-Orthodox national political scene for years.
In the only reported incident of violence in Jerusalem, police broke up a demonstration by extremist ultra-Orthodox Jews who do not recognize Israel. Police said they were trying to prevent people from voting.
