Central Elections Committee set to discuss Likud request to extend voting

The Central Elections Committee (CEC) is set soon to begin deliberating on requests by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and other coalition parties to extend voting at polling stations around the country, according to its acting director general Dean Livne.

The presidency of the CEC — which includes chairman Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg and representatives from two coalition and two opposition parties — is empowered to extend voting hours at polling stations if special circumstances justify such a step.

The presidency can extend voting by up to 24 hours after the polling stations are originally scheduled to close, meaning up until 10 p.m. on Wednesday.

The law is usually implemented only for specific polling stations, however, and not a blanket extension across the entire country unless there is a major security or other situation.

It is doubtful whether special circumstances exist to justify extending voting. Likud’s petition to extend voting did not provide a reason, but high voter turnout and rain, as has happened today, would most likely not be grounds to extend voting.

Likud filed its request more than four hours before polling stations were due to close, while the CEC has already determined that those in line at 10 o’clock p.m. will be guaranteed the right to cast their ballot.