Former United Synagogue president Simon Hochhauser will contest next month’s election for the presidency of the Board of Deputies having secured the necessary 20 nominations from deputies.

Dr Hochhauser, a member of the Board’s executive, had weeks ago ruled himself out of the running to succeed Jonathan Arkush as president but decided, during the Board’s regional meeting in Gibraltar last weekend, to enter the race just a few days before yesterday’s nominations deadline.

The Board has confirmed there will be four candidates hoping to become the next president - the others are current vice-presidents Marie van der Zyl and Sheila Gewolb, and the vice-chairman of its international division, Edwin Shuker.

The past week has been dogged by controversy after on Monday, the Board announced a change of rules which would have allowed deputies to nominate more than one president. This was seen as helpful to Dr Hochhauser in his attempt to secure nominations late in the day.

However, just a day before the deadline, the Board yet again changed its mind, saying that deputies could only nominate one person for each of the available offices.