Likud party admits to funding $4 million get-out-the-vote campaign

The Likud party has admitted it is funding a campaign to encourage right-wing voter turnout in the April 9 elections, the Haaretz daily reported Monday.

The party informed the Central Elections Committee that it is behind the operation, called Move to the Right, and a source told the newspaper that Likud has funded it to the tune of NIS 15 million (approximately $4.1 million).

“Move to the Right and Likud are one political and legal entity — the Likud party,” the party said in a statement, adding that it was a name given to election activity managed by a special headquarters — similar to headquarters targeting specific groups such as new immigrants.

However, the website for Move to Right does not state that it is part of Likud, instead claiming to have been established by multiple right-wing organizations.

“Move to the Right was established by the right-wing parties and the national camp to bring about the right’s victory in the elections for the 21st Knesset and to maintain the right-wing government in the State of Israel,” the website states.

The New Right and Yisrael Beytenu parties denied involvement in the organization, and the Union of Right-Wing Parties told Haaretz that it was not funding Move to the Right, but was working with Likud to recruit volunteers.

According to the newspaper, the initiative is headed up by Mordechai Benita, who is close to Likud minister Ze’ev Elkin. Activists are spread across the country, concentrated in peripheral communities where turnout may be low but voters are inclined to the right side of the spectrum. Paid coordinators recruit volunteers to go house-to-house and encourage voter turnout.

In the 2015 elections, the US-funded V15 organization was accused by Likud of inappropriate political meddling for its ostensible efforts to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by encouraging center-left voters. The state comptroller cleared the organization, though.

In 2017, the Knesset passed the so-called V15 bill, which aims to prevent wealthy donors from using political organizations to bypass election funding laws.

Attorney Shahar Ben Meir and the Labor Party have lodged a petition against Move to the Right, saying it violates the V15 Law due to the lack of transparency over funding and the fact that the organization is not immediately identifiable as being connected to the Likud party.

Likud claims the party does not need to be identified on its campaign materials as they are not propaganda, Haaretz reported.

Supreme Court Judge Hanan Melcer, the head of the Central Elections Committee, is due to rule on the matter Tuesday afternoon.