Ambassador Ran Yaakoby launches early voting for 4,500 Israeli diplomats working overseas.
By Pesach Benson, United with Israel
Israel’s envoy to New Zealand, Ambassador Ran Yaakoby, launched Israel’s 2022 elections by casting the first overseas vote from Wellington on Thursday.
“Just voted in the #Israelelection2022 . 1st in the world to vote (and furthest) #israelinnz #Israelmfa,” the ambassador tweeted.
“Good luck to all citizens of Israel. Wishing for a good, stable, productive government & #knesset ( parliament). We deserve it ! In Israel the voting is 1.11.2022,” Yaakoby added.
The tweet included a photo of the ambassador placing his vote inside a blue election box.
Israel is holding its fifth election in four years on November 1. More than six million Israeli citizens who are 18 or older — Jews, Arabs, Druze, Christians, Circassian, Aramean, Ethiopian, Russian, Anglo, men and women, religious and secular, sabras and olim, etc. — are eligible to vote.
Israel does not allow overseas voting, except for the staff of diplomatic missions around the world. Around 4,500 diplomatic staff will be casting their votes this week.
Voting itself is a low-tech affair. Voters show up at their designated polling station where they are given an envelope. Inside each booth is a tray with slips of paper featuring the name of the party and a 1-4 letter symbol. Voters take a slip representing their party of choice, seal it in the envelope, and place the envelope inside a blue ballot box.
A total of 40 party lists submitted their candidacies to the Central Election Committee and will have slips in the booths. A party must receive a minimum of 3.25% of the votes to take a seat in the 120-seat Knesset.
With nine days to go, polls indicate a tight race between the center-left bloc headed by caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid party, and the right-wing bloc headed by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud party.
Palestinians living in the Palestinian Authority are not Israeli citizens and vote in PA elections. PA President Mahmoud Abbas is currently in the 17th year of a four-year term. Repeated attempts hold elections have failed because of Fatah-Hamas feuding.