Three Israelis have petitioned the High Court of Justice to call for new elections, saying that if blank ballots were counted as valid, neither candidate for prime minister would have won.
Under the law for the direct election of prime minister, one candidate must receive at least 50 percent of the vote. If this does not occur, new elections must be held.
According to figures published by the Central Elections Committee last Friday, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu won 50.4 percent of the vote for prime minister, while the Labor Party incumbent, Shimon Peres, won 49.5 percent. Netanyahu won by 29,457 votes.
An estimated 150,000 to 180,000 blank ballots were found in voting envelopes. There were not counted, in accordance with a decision by the Central Elections Committee that blank slips be considered invalid.
The three petitioners, Shalom Savion, Ya’acov Tal and Shai Marcus, argued that the placement of a blank ballot in the voting envelope has long been considered in Israel an expression of a no-confidence vote.
The law for the direct election of the prime minister disqualifies ballots that do not make clear the intention of the voter, such as those with unacceptable markings.
It does not specifically mention how blank ballots should be considered, but allows for the elections committee to make further decisions regarding the status of ballots.
The petitioners argued that disqualifying the ballots requires a two-thirds majority vote by the committee and that it was unclear whether this procedure was followed.
The High Court is to consider the petitions later this week.
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