Israel's Supreme Court Questions Election Committee's Vote Reporting Decision

Israel's Supreme Court issued an order nisi on Monday, demanding an explanation from the Central Elections Committee regarding its decision to allow political parties to report on voter turnout in real-time during elections. The court has set a hearing for Wednesday and requires the committee to submit its response by Tuesday.

This move comes after the Elections Committee reversed an earlier decision by its chairman, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg. Sohlberg had initially permitted the use of the "Elector" application, which enables parties to track and report which citizens have voted or not voted. The committee's reversal, influenced by a coalition majority, sparked sharp criticism from within the coalition itself.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had heard a petition from the Likud party against the initial decision. During that hearing, justices suggested the full committee, rather than just the chairman, should decide the matter. The committee subsequently voted to overturn Sohlberg's ruling.

Representing Likud, attorney Ilan Bombach described the committee's decision as a "terror attack" on the election process, stating it caused "enormous and colossal damage" to the party just weeks before the vote. He argued that changing such a practice so close to an election unfairly impacts established parties like Likud, which have invested heavily in voter data over many years. Justice Khaled Kabub questioned whether the decision disproportionately affected Likud due to its extensive voter database, to which Bombach affirmed Likud's specialized software and resources dedicated to this purpose, noting that the State Attorney's Office had consistently supported this practice.