Work will be stopped for 13 hours on Tuesday when about 425,000 voters go to the polls to elect 527 municipal counsellors in 43 constituencies in various parts of the country. Communications and essential services will function normally during the election period.
At a press conference today, Minister of Interior Moshe Shapiro emphasized that the population in Israel has almost doubled since the Parliamentary elections which took place 21 months ago. The population now totals 1,350,000, he said.
In addition to the 43 constituencies where municipal elections will be held on Tuesday, there are 35 regional councils, comprising 400 villages, where local elections are scheduled to be held next May. The municipal network counts over 1,000,000 residents as compared with 550,000 under the British Mandate.
The Minister of Interior also revealed that local elections in Arab villages in Israel, which are now under military administration, will take place within a year. There are in Israel at present 17 municipalities, 46 local councils and 45 district councils, he reported.
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