Update: Israel's Election Panel Ratifies Oct. 27 Results as Likud and Shas Abstain
The certified count now goes to President Isaac Herzog, who will ask party leaders whom they back to form the next government. Coalition members had tried to stop the results from being published.
Learn more ›JERUSALEM —
The presidium of Israel's Central Elections Committee voted Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, to approve the results of the Oct. 27 Knesset election, the Times of Israel reported. Representatives of Yesh Atid and Blue and White voted in favor, Likud and Shas abstained, and the chairman, Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, cast the final vote to ratify the results.
See where this is ›The committee said it found “no irregularities indicating that the vote was compromised or the results altered.” The results were to be handed to President Isaac Herzog later Wednesday. Herzog will then meet representatives of the 11 parties in the new Knesset and is expected to give the task of forming a government to the candidate with the most recommendations from party leaders.
The vote came after 16 coalition representatives on the committee asked that publication be stopped until they received all Shin Bet intelligence on ongoing voter-fraud investigations. “We see no possibility of publishing the election results before a discussion is held,” their letter said. Channel 12 reported that outgoing Likud lawmaker Avihai Boaron coordinated the move.
Sohlberg moved the meeting up to 9 a.m. to allow a fuller discussion, but wrote that no one has the power to delay publication or to demand evidence, and that such claims belong in future court proceedings. Under Israel's Basic Laws, results must be published eight days after the election, and the committee's role is limited to confirming the count of valid votes and how they translate into seats.
After the vote, the Shin Bet told the committee that its intelligence so far points to foreign funding and influence operations involving “thousands of people and possibly more,” but that more investigation is needed to establish the scale. It named no countries, people or amounts. Police and law enforcement sources told Haaretz they were not familiar with claims of “huge sums” or “thousands of people.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said, “The election was stolen here in the State of Israel,” and demanded a freeze on both certification and the forming of a government. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whom Likud accused of blocking interrogations, issued a statement effectively accusing Shin Bet chief David Zini of trying to undermine the rule of law. Opposition figures have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Likud of trying to delegitimize the vote.
Likud won 27 seats, the most of any party, but Netanyahu's bloc holds 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats. Jewish-led opposition parties hold 48 and Arab-led parties hold 19.
What we don't know yet: The foreign-funding claims have not been substantiated, and the Shin Bet has not said who is involved. It is not yet known when Herzog's consultations will begin or which leader will receive the mandate.
