Elections Committee to Convene Party Heads Over Fear of Undue Influence

The Central Elections Committee will convene party heads next week for a special meeting following concerns about undue influence on election results. The discussion will present the dangers of the delegitimization campaign against committee members and scenarios for dealing with influence attempts. A special team has been established to examine scenarios, and the move comes after a clash between committee chairman Judge Noam Sohlberg and MK Boaz Bismuth.

The Central Elections Committee will convene Knesset faction heads next week for a special meeting, during which the dangers of the delegitimization campaign against committee members will be presented, as well as scenarios for dealing with attempts to unduly influence election results. This was first reported this evening on Channel 13 News. According to the report, the Elections Committee has also established a special team to examine scenarios of undue influence on the elections, both from within Israel and abroad. The move comes after an unusual clash last week between the chairman of the Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, and the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Boaz Bismuth. During a Knesset debate, Bismuth claimed that alongside external threats, there is "also a danger of threats from within," and added that public trust in the institutions responsible for the purity of elections is eroding. He also criticized a series of appointments in the Elections Committee. Sohlberg responded that he was surprised by the remarks and said: "We examine ourselves; all the appointments to the important positions made recently prove themselves day and night in the committee's work. Excellent people, one by one." The Likud party approached Sohlberg yesterday with a request to cancel the ban on using applications such as "Elector" on election day, or to postpone the implementation of the decision to a future election campaign.