Tel Aviv Mayoralty in Doubt As Laborites Fail of Majority

The mayorality of this all-Jewish city remained in doubt today as a final tally of the 21-677 votes cast Sunday showed that no party had secured a majority of the fifteen seats in the Municipal Council. The mayor is chosen by the council with the approval of the High Commissioner.

Contrary to early reports, the Labor ticket failed to win a majority, winning six of the fifteen seats in the council with its 8,709 votes. Following closely with 8,651 votes, the Centre bloc, including centrist and right-wing parties, also gained six seats.

The independent party of Meier Dizengoff, mayor of the city since its founding in 1909, trailed behind with a bare 2,007 votes, entitling it to one seat, which Mayor Dizengoff himself is expected to fill. The Progressive Party with its 1,632 votes won one seat, which will be filled by Felix Rosenblueth of the Association of German Immigrants in Palestine.

The fifteenth seat will be allotted either to a member of the Dizengoff party, the Poel Hamizrachi, orthodox labor Zionist group or to D. B. Benvenisti, a member of a Sephardic group.

The seats won by the Centre bloc will be allotted as follows: Israel Rokach, present vice mayor and J. Shatzov, president of the Jewish Merchants Association, will be named. In addition, the right wing Revisionists and the orthodox Mizrachi will receive one seat each and the landlords’ association two.

Failure of the Laborites to secure their expected majority opened the door to the possibility that Mr. Dizengoff may yet be renamed mayor despite his poor showing in the elections. His position is non-political and he has the respect of all parties. Consequently in the event of a deadlock between the Centre and Labor, which looms as a strong likelihood, Mr. Dizengoff may be chosen as compromise mayor, although Joseph Aronowitz, the Labor leader, has the greatest following of any single candidate.