Supreme Court Sends Election Monitoring Decision to Central Committee

The High Court of Justice has proposed transferring the final decision on party monitoring of citizen voting to the Central Elections Committee plenum. This development is seen as a victory for the ruling coalition, as the plenum's majority composition favors right-wing factions who wish to continue monitoring to encourage voter turnout.

The court's suggestion comes after the coalition abandoned its attempt to advance the "Bypass Solberg" law, which would have legalized reporting applications. This legislative effort failed because it required opposition support, which was not forthcoming.

The dispute originated from a decision by the Chairman of the Elections Committee, Justice Noam Solberg, to prohibit the real-time transfer of information regarding citizens who had voted. Solberg ruled, following a petition by attorney Shahar Ben Meir and the Privacy Defense Clinic at Tel Aviv University, that party representatives should only access such information for their duties at the polling station. He further determined that voting status and timing are protected by privacy laws and that the use of applications like "Elector" infringes upon privacy and election secrecy.

Solberg's ruling sparked anger within the coalition, which argued that the prohibition hampered their ability to mobilize supporters.