Likud vows to advance voter surveillance bill despite opposition from AG

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party says it will continue to push legislation that will allow cameras at polling stations despite opposition from Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit.

In a statement, the ruling party says the bill is designed to prevent voter fraud, but says the legal system was working to ensure the “exact opposite for reasons that remain unclear.”

Likud calls the Mandelblit’s position on the matter “alarming” and says that Justice Minister Amir Ohana will continue to push the legislation though the Knesset early next week.

A hidden camera allegedly snuck into a polling station in an Arab town by a Likud observer during parliamentary elections on April 9, 2019. (Courtesy Hadash-Ta’al)

Earlier today, Mandelblit told the Likud the legality of the legislation was questionable and warned it could be struck down.

Critics have charged that Likud’s efforts to monitor Arabs during the April 9 elections was a form of voter intimidation designed to keep the non-Jewish minority from the polls.