Record number of voters in World Zionist Congress election, despite fraud allegations

More than 238,000 people voted in the World Zionist Congress election, indicating record participation in a vote that will help determine how billions of dollars a year are allocated to various Jewish and Israeli causes, says the American Zionist Movement (AZM), which administered the election.

The eight-week online election, which ended yesterday, attracted 90% more voters than the previous election in 2020, AZM says. The final result is contingent on several thousand additional paper ballots that have been mailed in and will be released within the coming weeks, it adds.

The election was marred by allegations of voter fraud by as many as six of the 22 slates running for the 152 seats up for grabs in the US. More than 10,200 votes are likely to be tossed out due to suspicions of fraud.

Several slates, including ARZA/Vote Reform, Hatikvah, and Mercaz USA, have called for AZM to deal harshly with any parties found guilty of cheating, including disqualifying the offending slates. No evidence has yet been revealed incriminating any of the slates of orchestrating the fraudulent votes.

“AZM is continuing its investigation into those developments and will ensure that no improper votes are counted in the final results,” the organization says. “AZM is committed to upholding the integrity of the election and to conducting a fair and transparent election process.”