Elections Committee Slams New Right Over Criticism – But It May Pass Threshold

The Central Elections Committee on Sunday sharply criticized the New Right Party, accusing it of spreading “untruths” and “misleading information” about the elections process. With that, in an interview on Reshet Bet, the director of the Committee’s operations, Orly Ades, admitted that there had been incidents of “human error” in the elections, adding that there was a “good likelihood” that New Right would pass the electoral threshold and win four Knesset seats.

In its official statement, the Committee said that “beginning on the day after the election, top officials in New Right were in touch with us about the final count.” Contrary to the picture the party has painted in the media, “Judge Chanan Meltzer, chairperson of the Committee, graciously allowed New Right officials to examine materials relating to the election from the special ballots,” such as those cast by IDF soldiers. The requests to examine the materials were granted “immediately as requests were received.”

Given that, the Committee said, “we view the spreading of the false impression regarding the process by New Right as a very serious matter, as well as the lack of appreciation of the Committee to enable the party to examine the materials.”

With that, said Ades, the Committee’s director, who is in charge of the actual counting, “there were two issues with the count that were caused by glitches in the computer systems that were supplied by our contractors. These glitches led to incorrect presentation of the election data.” The errors, she said, were being corrected, and could lead to changes in the distribution of Knesset seats. “Because there are small numbers of votes involved, New Right’s share of the votes” could gain it Knesset representation,” but it is not just them. There could be changes on either side” of the right or left blocs, she added.