The Jewish Agency has received seven lists of candidates for the forthcoming elections for Israeli delegates to the World Zionist Congress, including one non-party slate. In addition, two parties–the Mizrachi and the General Zionists–have informed the Agency that they will not participate in the ballotting.
The six parties which registered their slates are: Mapai, Mapam, Progressives, Hapoel Hamizrachi, Herut and Revisionists. The slate of the non-party group, Knesset Israel Haolamith, has been set aside temporarily while the Agency elections committee checks whether the list complies with Congress regulations.
The Mizrachi and General Zionists have charged fraud in the sale of Shekolim, the basis for representation, and have therefore refused to be a party to the elections. Dr. M. Rimalt, vice-president of the General Zionist Party, charged that 200,000 Shekolim are available in the “blackmarket,” provided from the stocks bought by various political parties.
The possibility that the religious parties in Israel would present a united religious list in the forthcoming general elections for a new Israeli Parliament dwindled today when it was learned that the Hapoel Hamizrachi, the religious labor party, and its dissident faction, the Lamifneh, had reached an agreement on presenting their own slate to the electorate.
The Central Committee of the Mizrachi organization today discussed the decision of the Mizrachi laborites to present their own list of candidates to the forthcoming parliamentary elections. The Committee called upon the Orthodox laborites to reconsider their decision.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
