Rivlin tears up at voting station: ‘For 50 years I’ve voted here with my wife’

President Reuven Rivlin, voting in his hometown of Jerusalem, tells the television cameras he hopes in the next election he’ll be able to vote alongside his wife, who lies in hospital amid complications from a lung transplant last month.

“For 50 years I’ve voted here with my wife. I’m optimistic and full of hope that next time we’ll vote here in our regular place,” Rivlin says, visibly tearing up.

Rivlin’s wife Nechama underwent a lung transplant last month which was initially successful, but she was hospitalized suddenly last week with breathing problems, forcing Rivlin to return early from a state visit to Canada.

Rivlin adds a call for Israelis to go out and vote. “Not the president and not the heads of the parties will decide who is the next prime minister. The only ones who will decide who the prime minister will be, and what the government will look like, is you. And to have that influence, you have to vote,” he says.