Knesset member Orna Barbiei will run for mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo in the upcoming local elections

Knesset member Orna Barbiei will run for mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo in the upcoming local elections. Barbiei, the Minister of Economy in the previous government, is expected to resign from the Knesset soon. Tomorrow at 18:00 she will officially announce her candidacy at an event in Gan Ha'ir, with the participation of Yair Lapid.
Barbiei's decision was made after months of deliberation and in coordination with Yesh Atid, which will place her as the party's representative in Tel Aviv and finance the campaign. According to a source in the city's political system, the decision to contest was delayed, among other things, due to disagreements regarding the amount of funding that the party will make available to it.
Barbiei is the sixth person so far to announce her candidacy in the upcoming elections against the incumbent mayor, Ron Huldai. Apart from her, the former deputies of Huldai, Tzipi Brand and Reuven Ladiansky, the businessman Amos Shapira, the former member of the Knesset Yuval Zellner and the social activist Lior Kay Avishi announced. Until Barbiei came into the picture, Brand had established herself in polls conducted in recent months as the main candidate against the incumbent mayor, who is still leading considerably.
Barbiei, 60 years old, served in a number of command positions in the Triad and Manpower Corps in the IDF, and in 2006 was appointed head of the personnel division in the Land Arm. She later served as head of staff of the Human Resources Division, and in 2011 was appointed head of the ACA - thus becoming the first champion In the IDF. After her retirement from the army, Barbibai was appointed chairman of the Wicho Magbet, and a member of the executive committee at the Israel Democracy Institute and the Klalit Health Insurance Fund. In 2018 she joined the Yesh Atid party and in 2019 was elected to the Knesset on its behalf. In the years 2021-2022 she served As Minister of the Economy in the Bennet-Lapid government.