Likud Fraud Complaints: 775 Filed Over Arab Sector Polls

Likud says it has filed 775 formal complaints with Israel's Central Elections Committee over alleged misconduct and attempted fraud at polling stations in the Arab sector. The party also accuses the committee of brushing the complaints aside.

Sagi Keizler, the party's election integrity overseer, made the charge against the committee. The Jerusalem Post spells his name Sagi Kaisler and says he runs Likud's election integrity headquarters for the Arab sector. Keizler said the committee "prefers a high voter turnout over ensuring that the voting process is conducted properly, in accordance with all laws and procedures."

The Post gave a different figure. It reported that Likud's election integrity headquarters announced on Tuesday that it had received 620 reports of unusual incidents and suspected irregularities at Arab sector polling stations. More than 1,500 party representatives spread across the country collected those reports.

About a third of those 620 reports dealt with voters' personal details being written down and information being passed outside polling stations. Another 66 concerned ballot papers and envelopes. Twenty-six described problems verifying voters' identities or exercising the authority of polling station committee members, and 17 alleged violence and threats. The rest covered staffing shortages, campaigning and documentation problems.

Likud's election integrity headquarters pointed to two specific incidents. In Fassuta, it said, 10 sealed envelopes disappeared from a polling station. In Jadeidi-Makr, the number of envelopes and the recorded number of voters differed by 11.

The headquarters also attacked an instruction from the committee's director-general meant to prevent overcrowding at polling stations. It warned that the directive could weaken voter identification requirements and voting procedures.

"The Elections Committee is cutting corners precisely where stricter oversight is needed. We are receiving hundreds of reports of suspected irregularities, including missing envelopes and the unauthorized transmission of information."

Kaisler, who made that statement, said pressure was being applied to prevent overcrowding instead of tightening oversight. He demanded an immediate investigation, the deployment of independent observers and guarantees that the vote would be proper and transparent.