KIRYAS JOEL � Mayor Abraham Wieder and his allies will get a free ride at the polls Wednesday, their first uncontested race since an opposition movement launched an unprecedented � and unsuccessful � challenge to their power in 2001. This time around, only one opposition candidate stepped forward to run in an election for mayor and two trustee seats � and he was disqualified after he barely missed the deadline to file his petition to run for mayor.

Jacob Banda, a prominent diamond dealer who lost a 2005 race against Wieder, mailed his paperwork from a Manhattan post office with a postmark of 12:23 a.m. on April 30 � 23 minutes past the village�s deadline.

Wieder will coast to victory with trustee Sam Landau and newcomer Jacob Reisman, who is replacing Jacob Mittelman on the Village Board. Each term is for four years.

(Recordonline.com)