Municipal Elections in Tel Aviv during the 1950s: Processes, Results, and Ramifications

Abstract

The local-municipal political system was an essential factor in the Yishuv’s development in the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods. As the Zionist– socialist parties rose to power on the national level in the 1930s, the municipal system became the bastion of right-wing Zionist parties. The most vital political stronghold of right-wing Zionists was Tel Aviv, the country’s metropolis, whose population made up approximately one-third of the Jewish community in Palestine. 

After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Mapai, the leading socialist party and the dominant party in national politics, sought to strengthen its power by gaining control of the municipal political system as well. Tel Aviv was its first priority, but despite its efforts, more than a decade and three election campaigns had to pass until Mapai finally won the municipal elections. In retrospect, it was a pyrrhic victory. The effect of local politics on the national level seems negligible, and the victory in Tel Aviv did not prevent the Israeli right’s strengthening in the 1960s nor ascending to power in the 1970s.