Balloting for delegates to the 12th Histadrut convention–Israel’s second most important election–proceeded smoothly today in all parts of the country and in the administered territories. By early afternoon about one-fourth of the eligible voters in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa–the three largest cities–had cast their votes. Balloting was slower in agricultural settlements where voters normally go to the polls at the end of the work day.
About 6000 Arabs in East Jerusalem are eligible to vote, and two lines were reported outside each of the polling places there, one of men and another of women. Special security measures were taken by police but no disorders were reported in Jerusalem or elsewhere. Army units in outlying areas were participating in the vote through mobile polling stations that visited the Barley Line along the Suez Canal, the Golan Heights and the Jordan Valley. In Bedouin encampments, 30 percent of the eligible voters reportedly had cast their ballots by mid-day.
President Ephraim Katzir, whose private residence is in Rehovoth, cast his vote in Jerusalem today by special pre-arrangement. Premier Golda Meir also went to the polls in the capital. Polls close at 11 p.m. local time and the first returns are expected by midnight.
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