High Court Dismisses Petitions Challenging Netanyahu’s Victory

Israel’s High Court of Justice has thrown out three petitions challenging LIkud leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s election as prime minister.

The verdict came as the Central Election Committee declared his victory official.

The committee officially confirmed the results of the May 29 elections. The final figures were the same, if marginally more detailed, as those issued last Friday: Netanyahu won 1,501,023 votes, or 50.49 percent of those cast.

Outgoing Prime Minister Shimon Peres took, 1,471,566 or 49.51 percent of the vote.

Earlier in the day, a five-justice panel considered three petitions submitted by private individuals asking that blank ballots cast in the elections for prime minister be counted as protest votes.

Some 148,681 ballots cast last week were invalidated by the Central Election Committee. Had they been added to those legally cast, the petitioners argued, neither candidate for prime minister would have won the 50 percent majority required by law, and a second round of voting would have to be called.

These past elections marked the first time Israelis held a direct vote for prime minister.

“We decide unanimously to reject the petitions,” Chief Justice Aharon Barak said.

The Justices said a blank ballot was not specifically recognized in the election law as valid. At the same time, they said there was room for the next Knesset to set down specific procedures regarding the blank ballots.

The attorney general asked the court to throw out the petitions, saying that the elections committee had made clear in advertisements before the elections that blank ballots. He said they were only in the polling booths in order for voters to write in the name of the candidate or party, if those slips were missing.