Israeli Election Highlights Ongoing Restrictions on Expat Voting and Democratic Concerns
The recent Israeli election saw Likud and its allies win a plurality of seats, while attempts to limit overseas voting and recent legal changes have raised questions about democratic practices.
Israel's latest parliamentary election resulted in Likud securing twenty-seven seats and Gad Eisenkot’s Yashar party winning twenty-one, giving Netanyahu’s bloc a total of fifty-three seats. The Jewish opposition bloc obtained forty-eight seats and Arab-led parties nineteen, leaving no bloc with the sixty-one seats needed for a majority and prompting uncertain coalition talks.
A Tel Aviv University study reported that 270,000 citizens left Israel in the past three years, up from 183,000 during a comparable period a decade earlier. Many of those who emigrated have voiced criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel guarantees voting rights to citizens over eighteen but does not allow absentee ballots, except for diplomats, emissaries, and IDF soldiers stationed abroad. A pre-election survey estimated that up to 67,000 expatriates might return to vote.
In September, Likud petitioned the Central Election Committee to block the “Fly & Vote” program run by the nonpartisan American-Israel Democracy (AID) Coalition, which offered logistical assistance to Israelis abroad. The petition was dismissed, and the AID Coalition agreed to cease subsidising tickets or organizing additional group flights.
Earlier this summer, hundreds of Israelis living abroad were classified as non-residents under a “Code 51” designation by the Interior Ministry, removing them from the voter registry. Their Supreme Court petition was rejected on procedural grounds.
Reports indicated informal discussions within the Transport Ministry about limiting airport landing slots, potentially making it harder for expatriates to fly home for the vote.
The article also references historical contexts, noting that Palestinian citizens of Israel have faced discrimination since the state's founding, including periods of military rule and land confiscations. It mentions the 2018 Nation-State Law, the 2024 downgrade of Israel’s democracy rating by the Varieties of Democracy Institute, and recent actions against NGOs and journalists.
"The AID Coalition describes itself as a group strengthening, and preserving the democratic foundations of the State of Israel," the article notes.
The election outcome leaves open the possibility of Gad Eisenkot assuming a leadership role, though his policy proposals do not directly address the broader issues raised about the country's democratic structures.