MK Chaim Amsalem says next year's local elections should be held in the summer, not the fall, so as not to waste yeshiva students' time.
Amsalem, of the Sephardic hareidi-religious Shas party, also has some other reasons for advancing the municipal elections. He says it will enable the newly-elected officials to better prepare for the budget, giving them four months to deliberate over it instead of only one.
Amsalem mainly feels, however, as he explains in his request to Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, that holding the elections shortly after the High Holiday season will largely mar the holiday season for many population sectors.
"Changing the date from November 2008 to the end of August," Amsalem wrote, "will preserve the atmosphere of sanctity of the holidays, and will prevent the waste of Torah-study time from students who will get caught up in the election-fever atmosphere. The general public, as well, will suffer by having the holidays of Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot [which precede the scheduled elections by a few weeks - ed.] turn into a month of election propaganda. The synagogues will be filled with election pamphlets, the rabbis' speeches will be peppered with political talk - or may even be replaced by politicians' speeches - and the awe of the Days of Judgement will be replaced by politicking."
"Moving up the elections will benefit not only the yeshiva students," Amsalem wrote, "but also students of secular institutions who will be able to find work in the political campaigns during the summer."
Budgetary Considerations
"In addition, electing new mayors and municipal councils so close to the date on which they are supposed to submit a budget will make it difficult for them to study the matter carefully beforehand and prepare a proper budget," Amsalem noted.
Local municipal elections will be held in Beit El later this month, and in the Samaria and Binyamin Regional Councils in late November.