I don't remember the Haredi UTJ party ever being so divided in any previous election season as they are this year. they always squabble over which faction will get priority and jobs and the like, but the fights this time are really all out.

Meir Porush is the official candidate of UTJ for the jerusalem mayoral position. He got the nod due to previous coalition agreements between the various factions. The UTJ party makes very detailed agreements every election season, and they include all the cities in which they contend. For example, they will not just make an agreement on how to vote in jerusalem, but will say this year Degel gets the seat in jerusalem and Aguda gets it in Bnei Brak, and in bet Shemesh they will support this candidate and in Beitar they will support that candidate, and in the knesset this faction will get these spots on the list and that faction will get those spots...

Meier Porush got himself into some bad blood with other factions of UTJ in last years Beitar elections. he supported a rival candidate over the incumbent. the incumbent -Pindros - had been the Degel guy. Porush was acting within the agreement that had been previously signed, and his candidate was supposed to be the agreed upon candidate by all parties. Degel chose to not honor the agreement and they fielded Pindros again against Porush's candidate. Porush did not back down and kept his man in the race. Rubinstein, Porush's man, went on to win, and a lot of people got very upset at Porush.

Now they are taking it out on him. And it does not just affect Porush and his candidacy in jerusalem, but all election campaigns in various cities in which UTJ has a position.

One of those cities is Bet Shemesh. Gur, one of the parties upset at Porush, has decided that they will support Moshe Abutbol in bet Shemesh. The condition attached is that Shas work against Porush in jerusalem. That puts Shas in a tough position, because Shas and Porush worked together in beitar for the success of Rubinstein, and they were expected to support Porush in jerusalem (ever since Deri's failed bid to join the fray). if Shas agrees and goes against Porush, it could be disastrous for Porush.

So what did they do? In Bet Shemesh, Gur fielded their own candidate - a guy named Ehrenreich from Immanuel. This was obviously only done for internal Gur reasons, as he had absolutely no chance of winning anything other than possibly 500 or so votes from the Gerrer community. MK Litzman was using his candidacy to negotiate with the various other candidates and see from whom he could squeeze out the most.

It turns out Ehrenreich has now pulled his candidacy and come out in support of Shalom Lerner. I do not know what Lerner offered Gur for this support, other than a vague promise of construction in the upcoming neighborhood of RBS Gimmel, and some positions in a new city goverance.

This is big for Lerner, as it is his first agreement with any other group. On the othe rhand, I suspect it is still only temporary, as Gur is probably using it as a way to pressure Abutbol and Shas into an agreement. I don't know how Shas can agree, considering their relationship with Porush, but I do not see how Gur can support Lerner when all the other Haredi parties and factions have finally come out in support of Abutbol.

We'll see what happens with that. I must say Degel signing an agreement with Abutbol makes it very tough on Lerner. The polls have shown him to be neck and neck with Abutbol even in such a scenario, but polls are rarely reliable, and the polls are already a few weeks old. Much has changed since then.

In the meantime, the agreement between lerner and Gur has been acheived, and perhaps this will be the first of others, as Belz is also rumored to be following Gur in supporting Lerner. After that, perhaps others will follow.