Israel's Elections Committee finds no evidence of vote-rigging after review

Israel's Central Elections Committee (CEC) said Wednesday that an extensive review of the recent Knesset election found no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the vote or could have changed its outcome.

The announcement addressed accusations by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party that the election had been "stolen" by Arab parties using illegitimate means to mobilize voters.

The Shin Bet is also still investigating suspicions that money was transferred from foreign sources to Arab parties in an effort to influence the elections.

"As part of the election integrity operation, an unprecedented number of polling stations underwent thorough examination," CEC Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg said. "The scale and quality of the operation demonstrate the Central Elections Committee's strong commitment to reflecting the will of the voters as accurately as possible."

"This is our responsibility to the voters and to the lists that contested the election: to thoroughly investigate every claim, make corrections when needed and publish the findings transparently," acting CEC Dir.-Gen. Dean Livne added.

"Every complaint received from the parties, candidate lists and the public was examined on its merits. Where corrections were required, they were made based on the records and voting materials." He added that the committee was committed to thoroughly examining allegations, correcting errors when necessary and publishing its findings transparently.

The announcement came just hours before the official publication of the results of the election for the 26th Knesset and their presentation to President Isaac Herzog.

According to the committee, its review covered records from 9,069 polling stations, approximately 75% of the country's 12,018 regular polling locations. It also examined 2,452 submissions of claims and evidence from political parties and candidate lists concerning 1,350 polling stations. An additional 1,239 reports claiming potential irregularities in voting polls were also submitted by private individuals and members of the public. These claims were also examined.

The review, which lasted six working days, was conducted by a team of approximately 250 lawyers from the public sector working alongside committee staff. It resulted in several corrections to election records, but none were substantial enough to affect the overall results.

The scope of the review was considerably larger than the one conducted following the previous Knesset election in 2022, when approximately 5,100 polling stations, or 43.5% of the total, were examined.

Political reactions to the announcement were swift. Likud and Shas party representatives abstained from the committee vote to approve the election results, while Netanyahu's coalition partner, Itamar Ben Gvir's "Jewish Power" party, announced that it would vote against them.

"We will not deceive ourselves by abstaining. The elections were rigged, the results are false and foreign countries interfered. Therefore, we will vote against and will not approve the results today."