JERUSALEM: Israeli electoral authorities on Wednesday rejected allegations of voter fraud promoted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Arab parties, as the country’s president urged political leaders to ‘compromise’ following a divisive election that yielded no clear winner.
The Central Elections Committee stated it conducted an audit of 9,069 polling stations following complaints from the Oct 27 vote. The committee expressed confidence that the announced results ‘accurately reflect the will of the voters’.
‘All complaints submitted by political factions have been reviewed, and there were no findings indicating harm to the integrity of the election,’ it said in a statement.
Netanyahu has repeatedly alleged fraud by Arab-majority parties. He pointed to the arrests of several people with envelopes of cash on election day and later claimed lawmakers received money from Q atar.
Late on Tuesday, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said she would not question anyone without evidence after reports surfaced that the head of the domestic security service Shin Bet, a Netanyahu ally, had asked to interrogate Arab parties.
Netanyahu’s Likud party lashed out at Baharav-Miara, accusing her of attempting to ‘obstruct the investigation and to cover up this serious case of manipulation of the electoral process by foreign actors’.
Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief trying to unite centrists and the centre-right to oust Netanyahu, accused Likud of attempting a ‘pogrom against democracy’.
President Isaac Herzog officially received the election results at noon on Wednesday and called on party heads to seek common ground.
With neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor Eisenkot’s coalition holding a majority in the 120-seat parliament, Herzog stressed that ‘not every commitment and promisecan be fulfilled’ to avoid another election. ‘In the current reality, in which there is no clear winner after the elections, I ask for originality and creativity, courage and goodwill so that the State of Israel emerges the winner,’ he said.
The election saw surging support for the Arab minority, whose seat count reached 19 amid outrage over the rhetoric of Netanyahu’s hard-right government. Arab parties could hold the key to putting Eisenkot in power if they ally with his bloc.
Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial but decisive in selecting who forms the government, noted his ‘great respect’ for the Arab minority, which comprises about 20pc of Israel’s population. At the same time, he said, ‘I condemn the coarseness and racist expressions that we have heard recently. There is no place for them toward any community in Israel.
As neither Netanyahu, who has a 53-seat bloc, nor Eisenkot, with 48 seats, holds the 61 seats needed to secure a majority, the selected candidate will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. Herzog has already begun two days of consultations with party leaders.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has called for a ‘broad nationalgovernment’withhimself atthe helm. He faces corruption charges and the risk of jail if he loses power.
Opposition lawmakers noted that Tuesday’s midterm elections in the United States, in which Democrats resoundingly trounced Republicans, reinforcedtheneedtoremoveNetanyahu.
Ex-premier Yair Lapid said the US election results and Shin Bet’s actions ‘eliminate any possibility of a unity government led by Netanyahu’.
On the other hand, Eisenkot had warned Netanyahu against launching a new war against Iran with close ally, US President Donald Trump, saying it could help the prime minister push for a unity government or delay new elections.
-Agencies