Israel's High Court Rejects Bid to Restore Overseas Voters to Electoral Rolls

The High Court of Justice (Bagatz) on Sunday, September 6, 2026, dismissed a petition filed by 100 Israeli citizens residing abroad who sought to be reinstated on the voter rolls for the upcoming Knesset elections. The court did not rule on the merits of the case, instead rejecting the petition on procedural grounds, according to Maariv.

The petitioners were removed from voter lists because their status in the population registry was marked with "code 51," indicating they were no longer considered residents of Israel. The Ministry of Interior stated this code is applied when citizens inform the registry they are leaving the country and no longer wish to be considered residents. The petitioners, however, claim they never requested this designation.

Israeli law requires voters to be over 18 and registered as residents. The petitioners argued this contradicts the Basic Law: The Knesset, which guarantees voting rights to all citizens over 18 regardless of their place of residence.

The court cited two main procedural issues: the petition was filed too late, just days before the final voter list was to be formed, and the applicants failed to use the proper legal channels to appeal their removal. They also did not provide detailed information on the circumstances under which each received "code 51."

The High Court did not decide the fundamental question of whether restricting the voting rights of citizens not registered as residents is lawful. The judges indicated that this issue could be raised again after the current elections.