The mini-drama ended at 7:40 p.m. with an official announcement by Mayor Nir Barkat to the local politicians, activists, journalists and members of Jerusalem’s Religious Council, who had packed the large city hall in Safra Square since the wee hours of Tuesday.

Rabbi Meir Kahane, president of the elections committee, was then handed the microphone, announcing what had already leaked a few minutes earlier in the corridors leading from the mayor’s chamber to the hall: Namely that the mayor had succeeded, and the winners in Jerusalem’s chief rabbi race were Rabbi Arye Stern, who got 27 out of the 47 votes for the Ashkenazi poll, and Rabbi Shlomo Amar (Sephardi, with 28 votes).