Elections are held in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

to elect the city's mayor. Currently, such elections are regularly scheduled to elect mayors to five-year terms. Prior to 1978, mayors were selected by a vote of the city council. Since 1978, direct elections have been held for mayor.

1978

The 1978 Tel Aviv mayoral election was held on 8, November 1978, and saw the reelection of

Shlomo Lahat Shlomo "Chich" Lahat (; November 9, 1927 – October 1, 2014) was a major general in the Israel Defense Forces and former Head of the Manpower Directorate. He served as the eighth mayor of Tel Aviv in 1974–1993, for four consecutive terms. Afte ...

1983

The 1983 Tel Aviv mayoral election saw the reelection of

to a third consecutive term.

1989

The 1989 Tel Aviv mayoral election was held on 28 February 1989, and saw the reelection of

to a fourth consecutive term.

1993

The 1993 Tel Aviv mayoral election was held on 2 November 1993, and saw the election of

Roni Milo Roni Milo (; born 26 November 1949) is an Israeli politician, lawyer and journalist, and a former Knesset member who held several ministerial positions. He was also mayor of Tel Aviv from 1993 to 1998. Political career Born Ron Milikovsky in T ...

1998

The 1998 Tel Aviv mayoral election was held on 10 November 1998, and saw the election of

Ron Huldai Ron Huldai (; born 26 August 1944) is an Israeli politician and businessman who has been Mayor of Tel Aviv since 1998. Before taking office as mayor, Huldai served as a fighter pilot and commander in the Israeli Air Force. After leaving the ...

Incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

mayor

had opted against seeking reelection, instead planning to run for prime minister in 2000 as the head of a new centrist political party. Huldai had been the

principal Principal may refer to: Title or rank * Principal (academia), the chief executive of a university ** Principal (education), the head of a school * Principal (civil service) or principal officer, the senior management level in the UK Civil Ser ...

Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium The Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium (, also known as ''Gymnasia Herzliya''), originally known as HaGymnasia HaIvrit (lit. Hebrew High School) is a historic high school in Tel Aviv, Israel, whose faculty and alumni includes many people influential in t ...

. Huldai ran as an independent candidate with the support of the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party (), commonly known in Israel as HaAvoda (), was a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi (political party), Rafi. Unt ...

. Huldai was regarded to be a political liberal. His opponents included former general

Doron Rubin Doron Rubin (; 1944 – 20 January 2018) was an Israeli general. He was head of the Israeli Defense Forces' Instruction and Doctrine Directorate and commander of Depth Corps, the headquarters for special operations. Biography Doron Rubin was ...

and actor

Samuel Vilozny Shmuel "Shmulik" Vilozny (; born 10 January 1954) is an Israeli comedian, actor and director as well as a political activist. Early life Vilozny was born in Ramat Gan, Israel. His father Mordecai was a Holocaust survivor. Vilozny graduated from t ...

. Huldai was considered the

front-runner In politics, a front-runner (also spelled frontrunner or front runner) is a leader in an electoral race. While the front-runner in athletic events (the namesake of the political concept) is generally clear, a political front-runner, particularly i ...

during the campaign. The campaign of Doron Rubin never received much momentum. There were instances of

electoral violence Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-state actors (forc ...

during the campaign. Instances included a switchboard serving Huldai's campaign office was set on fire, a firebomb being tossed at one of the mayoral candidates homes, and a car belonging to a volunteer for one of the campaigns being set on fire. Huldai's victory was regarded to be a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

2003

The 2003 Tel Aviv mayoral election was held on 28 October 2003, and saw the reelection of

. Huldai won 55,966 votes (62.91% of the vote) against 5 opponents.

2008

The 2008 Tel Aviv mayoral election was held on 11 November 2008, and saw the reelection of

to a third consecutive term. Huldai won 51% of the vote.

Candidates

, incumbent mayor since 1998 * Dov Khenin (City for All), member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

*Oren Shahor, retired general *

Pe'er Visner Pe'er Visner (; born 1957) is an Israeli politician who was deputy mayor of Tel Aviv and chair of the The Greens (Israel), Israeli Green Party. Political career Visner strongly opposed a 2006 resolution by the Green Party (United States), United ...

, chair of

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties *The Greens – The Green Alternative, Austria *Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * The Greens (Benin) *The Greens (Bulgaria) * Greens of Bosnia and He ...

and 2003 mayoral candidate *Asma Agbaria Zahalka

Campaigning

Huldai was considered the election's

. However, he faced criticisms accusing him of failing to address the demand for

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median, as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on ...

in the city. and alleging that development in the city during his mayoralty had been beneficial only to the city's wealthy. Runner-up Dov Khenin, a member of the

who ran on a social and environmental issues-focused platform, won 34% of the vote. Khenin, running under the "City for All" party label, was also affiliated with

Hadash Hadash is a left-wing to far-left political coalition in Israel formed by the Israeli Communist Party and other leftist groups. History The party was formed on 15 March 1977 when the Rakah and Non-Partisans parliamentary group changed its ...

. One of the top issues discussed during the election included growing demand for parking spaces in the city, which outweighed the supply.

Results

2013

The 2013 Tel Aviv mayoral election was held 22 October 2013, and saw the reelection of

to a fourth consecutive term.

2018

The 2018 Tel Aviv mayoral election was held on 30 October 2018 to elect the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

. It saw the reelection of

to a fifth consecutive term. The election was part of the

2018 Israeli municipal elections Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number) * One of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short story ''God's Dice'' * ''Eighteen'' (film), a 20 ...

Candidates

*Natan Elnatan (

Shas Shas () is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi religious List of political parties in Israel, political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardic Jews, Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until ...

), deputy mayor *Assaf Harel (We Are the City), comedian *

(One Tel Aviv), incumbent mayor since 1998 *

Asaf Zamir Asaf Zamir (; born 31 August 1980) is an Israeli politician and diplomat. He served as Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv from 2008 until 2013 and Acting Mayor in charge of education from 2013 to 2018. He was elected to the Knesset in 2019, serving in two ...

(City Majority), deputy mayor and founder and chairman of "City Majority"

Results

Since Huldai's share of the vote exceeded the 40% threshold required to avert a runoff election, no runoff was held. Turnout was 44.17%

2024

In 2024, Huldai was re-elected to a sixth term.

References

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