Secular candidate wins Jerusalem mayor election

Occupied Jerusalem: Residents of occupied Jerusalem chose a secular businessman to lead one of the world's most revered and complicated cities, pointedly putting an end to five years of ultra-Orthodox Jewish control, results showed on Wednesday.

At the end of a divisive campaign, Nir Barkat, a former paratroops officer, promised to be a mayor for "all of [occupied] Jerusalem's residents," including the city's large ultra-Orthodox and Arab populations.

"I stand here and express my thanks for the great honour I have been given to serve as the mayor of [occupied] Jerusalem," the 49-year-old Barkat told jubilant supporters as he claimed victory at a pre-dawn celebration.

Final results released by Israel's Interior Ministry showed that 52.4 per cent of the city's voters supported Barkat. His opponent, veteran ultra-Orthodox politician Meir Porush, received 43.4 per cent.

Barkat will succeed Uri Lupolianski, the first ultra-Orthodox Jew to serve as mayor of occupied Jerusalem.

His election to the five-year term reflected a rejection of Lupolianski's term by secular residents, who widely believed the outgoing mayor favoured the interests of his ultra-Orthodox constituents over their own.

Many secular Israelis resent that thousands of ultra-Orthodox men shun work for religious study, leaving their families to depend on government stipends and benefits.

In occupied Jerusalem, national political parties failed to field candidates for mayor for the first time.

With a high birth rate, ultra-Orthodox Jews are a growing proportion of the city's population. Many secular Jews, meanwhile, have left to find better job opportunities and more affordable housing.

Absent from the race was occupied Jerusalem's third sector - its Palestinian residents.

They make up a third of the city's population of 750,000 and have the right to vote after Israel annexed their section of the city in 1967.