United Torah Judaism Ignores High Court Ruling on Election Day Monitoring

The United Torah Judaism party has instructed its representatives at polling stations to continue reporting in real-time on voters' attendance, despite a Supreme Court ruling against the practice. The party's directive, issued on Tuesday, involves manual recording of who has voted and who has not. This action directly contradicts a September decision by the Supreme Court, which unanimously accepted petitions against the Central Elections Committee's practice of allowing parties to track voter turnout in real-time. Justices Yael Vilner, Alex Stein, and Khaled Kabub ruled that this procedure infringes upon the fundamental right to privacy. Justice Vilner, in the main opinion, stated the practice was illegal due to a lack of legal authorization and its violation of privacy rights, specifically contravening the Privacy Protection Law. The justices emphasized that the Central Elections Committee lacks the authority to legitimize such a practice without explicit legislation. The ruling sparked significant anger within the political establishment. Justice Minister Yariv Levin sharply criticized the justices, suggesting their decision was motivated by the upcoming government's power to appoint Supreme Court justices. He accused them of "desperately changing the rules of the game" to suppress voter turnout and regain control of the country, asserting that "all means are permissible" to influence election results.