The director of Israel’s Central Elections Committee yesterday warned that it is unprepared for a likely third vote in less than a year, reported the Times of Israel.
During a press conference at the Knesset (Parliament), Orly Adas said:
“We don’t have staff, offices, equipment. The storerooms are empty. This is the current situation”.
Elections committee lacks staff, equipment for 3rd vote, director warns https://t.co/eHMgaZangi
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) December 5, 2019
In addition, after having organized two elections in 2019, the committee is facing a serious budget shortfall.
Adas has also clarified that the earliest possible date to hold third elections is February 25, 2020, on the basis that “parties need time to assemble their electoral slates and the Supreme Court must rule on whether candidates are legally qualified to run”.
Meanwhile, the elections committee will also need a new chair, after Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer said last month there was “no chance” he would take up the post for the third time. Yet, for now, “no other judge of the top court has publicly expressed interest in the position”.
As third elections loom, both Netanyahu and Gantz vow to defeat each other https://t.co/6G4o2jUqOe
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) December 6, 2019
The Knesset has a deadline on December 11, for 61 or more parliamentarians to agree on one Member of Knesset to head a government, or else parliament is dissolved and third elections set. Two previous elections in April and September failed to result in a coalition forming.
(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)
