The Chabad community has traditionally been a strong UTJ constituency.
In the 2003 elections, Marzel's party (Herut, led by Michael Kleiner) received a large number of votes from residents of Kfar Chabad.
UTJ fears thousands of Chabad ultra-Orthodox will vote for Baruch Marzel
The United Torah Judaism party expressed fears on Tuesday that large numbers of Chabad ultra-Orthodox would decide to vote for the rival National Jewish Front led by extreme-right figure Baruch Marzel.
The Chabad community has traditionally been a strong UTJ constituency.
In the 2003 elections, Marzel’s party (Herut, led by Michael Kleiner) received a large number of votes from residents of Kfar Chabad.
According to MK Avraham Ravitz, UTJ is disappointed that Chabad members reneged on an agreement to support the party in Tuesday’s election.
Over the weekend, Ravitz attacked Marzel, who claimed that he enjoyed wide support in the ultra-Orthodox sector.
“A Jew is walking around and saying he has 50,000 signatures, including 30,000 from the Torah world,” Ravitz said on Saturday night. “Even if this is a lie, it is terrible.”
Ravitz said on Tuesday that UTJ’s goal is to secure 80 percent of the ultra-Orthodox vote.
UTJ fears the loss of votes due to an earlier decision by another smaller group of Slonim Hasidim to boycott the election.
In the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox sector, a strong anti-Zionist grouping is boycotting the election and a protest was even held on Tuesday afternoon in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim section protesting participation in the vote.
Voting in the ultra-Orthodox sector began early Tuesday morning when most of the Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities’ senior rabbinical figures cast their votes.
