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Oct 23, 2013

Moshe Abutbol is mayor of Bet Shemesh

Congratulations to Moshe Abutbol for wining the elections for mayor of Bet Shemesh.

The numbers are still shaky, the race was close, the soldiers votes haven't been counted, some challenges of fraud are still open that might cancel some ballot boxes.. so numbers might change, but Moshe Abutbol is the winner.

Here are the numbers:

voters: 50,466
valid votes: 33,201

Moshe Abutbol: 17,201 votes, 51.8%
Eli Cohen: 15,479, 46.6%
Meir Balayish: 521, 1.6%

City Council is a bit more complicated. I have numbers, but they aren't on the Misrad HaPnim website yet, so they might not be final:

Chen: 4969 votes, 3 seats
Bet Shemesh Chozeret: 4826 votes, 3 seats
Shas: 4767 votes, 3 seats
Likud: 3702 votes, 2 seats
Aguda: 3501 votes, 2 seats
Motti Cohen: 2847 votes, 2 seats
Clal Hassidi: 2661 votes, 1 seat
Balayish: 1572 votes, 1 seat
Bet SHemesh Beyteynu: 1351 votes, 1 seat
Richard Peres: 1340 votes, 1 seat
TOV: 1277 votes, 0 seats (I am told they missed the seat by 40 votes)
Azulai (Lemaan HaToshav): 412 votes, 0 seats
Kol Shachar: 330 votes, 0 seats



Congratulations.

Now it is time to move on and get back to our normal quiet lives..



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28 comments:

  1. Mayor Abutbol bragged he'd win, by 60% or 70%. Turns out practically every other person in town would rather replace him.
    Shame on people for such low voter turnout.
    Are there any women on the city council?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for posting the results.

    How does that compare to the previous council makeup?
    Who lost/gained seats?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yasher Koach for posting results Rafi, and I am sure that you'll update us if there are any major changes.

    As you wrote, indeed, it is time for us all: winners and losers; politicians and regular citizens; and, of course, all sectors of the city's population; to get back to our normal quiet everyday lives, and to show each other respect no matter which side of the political fence we were on.

    Bivrachah,
    Catriel Lev

    ReplyDelete
  4. How do yesterday's election results bode for the next five years in Beit Shemesh?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I dont know how accurate the city council breakdown I posted is. Assuming its fairly accurate, it depends on if th enon-haredi parties remain a bloc as they spoke about in advance and for Abutbol to have a minority coalition. Balayish can be king-maker for Abutbol (as Ephraim said above, along with just about everyone in Bet Shemesh)..

    Besides for that the differences from the previous council are not great or significant.

    It is a shame Reuven Cohen from Shas is not in. I liked him. Though it doesnt bother me that Shas didnt get a fourth seat, just that Reuven Cohen didnt get in.

    There is now an "anglo" rep in city council (if anyone cares), with the third seat of Chen going to Yisroel Silverstein.

    ReplyDelete
  6. sorry - Gopin said it on Facebook, not above. misplaced comment that I cant edit out.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Not sooo fast Rafi! Thanks for posting the incomplete results, BUT; How is it that Israel Nat'l News calls Abutbul winner @ 4:08 AM when JPost @ 4:11 AM says Abutbul took lead with 51.9% counted in such a tight election??
    I, for one, am not ready to accept defeat in the dirtiest, fraud-and-lie-ridden campaign I've seen here or in the US.

    Eli, If Abutbul does, in fact, "win", IMHO YOU owe it to your voters, your constituency to contest the results, i.e. demand a recount and demand that the election results be held up pending FULL INVESTIGATION by Misrad HaPanim to determine full extent of use of false Teudat Zehuts to gain votes for Abutbul.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. while there are issues of fraud that remain open, I am not sure why two different websites updating their sites at different rates is any indication of a problem of integrity

      Delete
  8. A little noticed statistic voters: 50,466 valid votes: 33,201 that means that 17,265 people came to vote, but their vote was disqualifed. That is a very high number, and a lot of votes. I'd bet my right arm, that most of those votes were not for Abutbul, but have no way of proving it. Still as you say, there will be appeals because of fraud etc, but it won't change much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 50k is the number of registered voters in BS, not the number of votes.

      out of the 50k, 33k+ voted valid votes (a certain number were invalidated, but the number is not significant - offhand I think it was 129 invalid votes, but that might be wrong)

      Delete
    2. Nope. that means of 50,466 potential voters only 33,201 valid votes were counted. The majority of the difference are people that were too lazy and apathetic to get off their couch and vote.

      Delete
    3. I didn't vote because I refuse to be involved in such a low, childish, color war-like game which reduces my fellow Beit Shemesh-ites to sonei achei-hem (brother haters). These elections have brought out the worst in everybody on both sides, and fosters hate between various factions of Jews that normally live peacefully side by side. I refuse to be a part of it. Now can we just get on with our lives?

      Delete
    4. Very mature argument why not to vote. Whether you like it or not you are part of it as long as you live here. You should have voted for the lesser of the two evils (in your opinion).

      Delete
    5. I don't share values with either candidate. So how can I take responsibility for putting someone into office that won't work to achieve what I think is important?

      Delete
  9. 40 votes for TOV? Could that come from soldiers? Keep us updated!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I thought there were 21 sets on city council? You only listed 19.
    Am I wrong?

    ReplyDelete
  11. You can find more accurate/up to date (I think) results here:
    http://betshemesh.muni.il/?view=elections&module=kalpisUpdate&kalpi=&kalpiTxt=%D7%90%D7%95+%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%A1+%D7%9E%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8

    שם המועמד הצבעות אחוז
    משה אבטבול 17356 52.54%
    אלי כהן 15168 45.91%
    מאיר בלעיש 511 1.55%

    מצביעים בחלוקה למועמדים
    אלי כהן
    מאיר בלעיש
    משה אבטבול


    מפלגות

    שם המפלגה הצבעות אחוז
    חזית תורנית מאוחדת (חן) 4760 14.56%
    בית שמש חוזרת - הבית היהודי (טב) 4631 14.17%
    התאחדות הספרדים העולמית שומרי התורה (שס) 4600 14.08%
    הליכוד משפחה אחת בראשות שלום אדרי (מחל) 3588 10.98%
    אגודת ישראל (ג) 3534 10.81%
    עתיד העיר (כ) 2739 8.38%
    כלל חסידי וקהילות ירושלים (כח) 2672 8.18%
    דור אחר ביחד חב"ד בראשות מאיר בלעיש (ה) 1476 4.52%
    בית שמש ביתנו בראשות ילנה קוניאנסקי (ל) 1300 3.98%
    בית שמש שלנו בראשות - ריצרד פרס (א) 1293 3.96%
    טוב לבית שמש (עד) 1223 3.74%
    למען התושב בראשות אזולאי שמעון (י) 440 1.35%
    קול שחר (ק) 426 1.30%
    מצביעים בחלוקה למפלגות
    אגודת ישראל
    בית שמש ביתנו בראשות ילנה קוניאנסקי
    בית שמש חוזרת - הבית היהודי
    בית שמש שלנו בראשות - ריצרד פרס
    דור אחר ביחד חב"ד בראשות מאיר בלעיש
    הליכוד משפחה אחת בראשות שלום אדרי
    התאחדות הספרדים העולמית שומרי התורה
    חזית תורנית מאוחדת
    טוב לבית שמש
    למען התושב בראשות אזולאי שמעון
    עתיד העיר
    Highcharts.com
    שנה לתצוגת עמודות

    ReplyDelete
  12. That was fun, can we do it again? Do we really have to wait five years?

    ReplyDelete
  13. I wonder how many Tov votes were lost when people mistakenly selected the "Tet-Bet" ticket. I know of at least one - happened to a neighbor of mine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have heard that from a few people that they voted by mistake tet bet and only realized later. Aharon SOlomon just posted to facebook that they only missed the seat by 12 votes, so that could be significant. It also could theoretically change, considering the misrad hapnim hasnt declared official final results yet

      Delete
    2. Rafi I know 2 people who voted tet bet but wanted to vote TOV. They told me that it was not clear on the ballots which letters were for which groups and they thought tet vet was TOV without the vav.

      I’m wondering if TOV can do anything about this – it’s such a shame that they were short so few votes.
      I’m sure they would have gotten more votes if people weren’t confused.

      Delete
  14. Rafi, is there anything that we can do together as the 15,000 plus citizens of Beit Shemesh that will enable us to have some say in what happens in this city over the next 5 years

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. wait, see how mayor puts his coalition together, and connect to a party to work through them to advance ideas. Or do it without the government. there are plenty of people who would be willing to be mobilized behind good initiatives.

      Delete
  15. Congratulations Moshe!
    Now the Torah-hating people who supported a secular candidate in a majority religious city can go back to their holes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Hating the Torah" is not even remotely bad if that Torah is the one Charedim follow. You know the one... where lying, stealing, violence, fraud and Motzi Shem Rah are Mitzvos. Frankly, I hate that Torah too.

      Delete
    2. Mizrachists don't have Torah.
      In my Torah it says VeAsita KeChol Asher Yorucha.
      Does Bayit Yehudi listen to a Rav?
      Of course not.
      You are going in the well trodden path of the reform Jews before you.

      Delete
  16. 19 seats divided amongst 10 parties. That bodes well!

    ReplyDelete

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