Likud preparing Arab sector fraud claims before election

Days before Israel votes, Likud is preparing a wave of ballot-fraud complaints targeting Arab polling stations, before any irregularities have occurred, according to a report by journalist Dafna Liel.

The party is examining scenarios that could form the basis for complaints, including difficulties in positively identifying Arab women wearing face veils, polling stations in Bedouin areas where men and women vote during separate hours and the young age of election monitors assigned to those stations.

The claims are being prepared in advance, Liel reported, to create a foundation for alleging fraud regardless of what happens on election day, and to serve a dual purpose: delegitimising the results if Likud loses, and driving right-wing voters to the polls with the message that the left and the Arabs are "stealing the election."

The law and the procedures of the Central Elections Committee tell a different story. Committee regulations require full identification, including the removal of face veils, before a ballot is placed in the envelope.

On separate voting hours, there is no legal bar to a community arranging voluntarily for men and women to arrive at different times, so long as the polling station remains open to all voters. On monitor age, the regulations require all monitors nationwide to be over 21.

The report quoted former state's attorney Shai Nitzan, who has said it is "impossible in practice to rig elections in Israel." Still, political sources estimate Likud may use the claims both to cast doubt on the outcome in the event of a loss and to mobilise right-wing voters with a sense of emergency.

Right: Gadi Eisenkot; left: Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Chaim Goldberg, Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Final polls published in recent days show the change bloc ahead of the Netanyahu bloc, but neither side with a clear majority. Arab parties are projected to win 14 to 16 seats, a figure that could decisively affect either bloc's ability to form a government.

Some 7.3 million eligible voters are expected to cast ballots on Tuesday, and whether the pre-prepared complaints will affect public confidence in the process remains an open question.