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Almost five and a half million Israelis will be able to cast their ballots today as the country votes to elect mayors and councils in 191 municipalities.

There are 689 candidates standing for mayoral positions across the country, of which seventy per cent are bidding for re-election. Incumbent mayors Ron Huldai in Tel Aviv, Yona Yahav in Haifa and Ruvik Danilovich in Beer Sheva are all expected to be returned to office. However, a keen contest is expected in Jerusalem where current Mayor Nir Barkat is being challenged by the official Likud-Beitenu candidate Moshe Leon, who is closely backed by Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman. Much is likely to depend on the city’s ultra-Orthodox vote and although Leon has secured support from Shas, reports this morning suggest that he has not received overwhelming backing from other ultra-Orthodox factions.

Although many of the candidates are running on independent lists, today’s vote represents an opportunity for Israel’s national parties to shore up support. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that “we need strong, experienced and talented people… on a local level. Those people are on the Likud’s lists.” Likud is backing sixty five mayoral candidates. Shelly Yachimovich, leader of the Labour Party, supporting thirty prospective mayors, commented, “Municipal elections are the daily expression of our ideological agenda.” At a meeting of his Yesh Atid faction in the Knesset yesterday, Finance Minister Yair Lapid said, “I call on all citizens to get out of the house, vote and influence.” Meanwhile, Jewish Home leader and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett vowed “We will continue what we started in the [general] election and become the home of the Jewish people.”

Two current members of Knesset are running for mayoral office. In Tel Aviv, Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz is a candidate while Balad MK Haneen Zoabi is standing in Nazareth. If elected, they will be required to resign their Knesset seats.