Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Zeev Elkin has announced his candidacy for mayor of Jerusalem.
"I have notified the prime minister that I have made the decision to run for mayor of Jerusalem and moved into the city. I am prepared to give up my position as a senior minister and cabinet member for the sake of Jerusalem, because I think that leading Jerusalem at this time is a national challenge of the utmost importance," Elkin said Thursday.
The announcement comes on the heels of a poll conducted in Jerusalem on Wednesday, a day before Elkin announced his decision. The poll gave Elkin a considerable edge over other mayoral candidates.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is slated to announce next week whether the Likud party will endorse Elkin as its candidate in the mayoral race.
While the prime minister is taking his time deciding whether the party will support Elkin in his bid for mayor, an internal Likud poll conducted by Professor Avi Degani of the Geocartography Knowledge Group concluded that Elkin had the best chances of all the current candidates. Netanyahu received the results of the poll late Thursday night.
Israel Hayom obtained a copy of the poll and discovered that 32.6% of respondents said that Elkin was a good or a very good person for the position. When asked whom they would support if the election were held today, 20.7% said they would vote for Elkin, while 17.6% said they would vote for Jerusalem city council member Ofer Berkowitz, 11.8% said they would vote for haredi candidate Yossi Deutsch, and 10.9% said they would vote for Jerusalem city council member Moshe Leon.
The poll also inquired about a scenario in which Elkin made it into a run-off vote against another candidate. In a head-to-head race, 36.2% of Likud voters said they would vote for Elkin over Deutsch, while 36.6% would vote for Elkin over Leon.
The Likud poll was conducted before Elkin announced his candidacy, and it is considered likely that his announcement will bolster his standing.
Elkin appears to have the support of the Likud establishment. Tourism Minister Yariv Levin, Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Welfare and Social Services Minister Haim Katz, National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz, Communications Minister Ayoob Kara, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, and current Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat all expressed their support for his mayoral run, as did Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely and a string of Likud MKs.
