The joint move by Netanyahu and Smotrich amid fears of ballot box fraud

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced a joint move by Likud and Religious Zionism to deploy approximately 2,000 observers at hundreds of polling stations in the Arab sector, aiming to prevent fraud in voting and vote counting and to ensure the victory of the national camp in the elections.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced a joint move by Likud and Religious Zionism to deploy approximately 2,000 observers at hundreds of polling stations in the Arab sector. According to the announcement, the move is intended to prevent fraud in voting and vote counting, against the backdrop of similar incidents in previous election campaigns. The locations were determined through a special mapping based on the risk of fraud in the area. The activists, many of them from the religious Zionist sector and yeshiva students, will undergo extensive training covering methods of operation at polling stations, preparation for exceptional scenarios, and providing a rapid response in case of suspected fraud in the counting. The move is part of a broader collaboration including a joint headquarters to increase voter turnout on the right, which includes door-to-door canvassing and calls to potential voters. The background to these developments is the fear of losing votes to parties that will not pass the electoral threshold and the possibility that a left-wing government will be formed.