Elections Committee rejects bid to ban far-rightist from Arab city poll

Central Elections Committee chairman Eliezer Rivlin on Friday rejected a request to ban far-rightist Baruch Marzel from serving as a poll supervisor in the Israeli-Arab city of Umm al-Fahm.

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Attorney General Menachem Mazuz earlier on Friday urged the Central Elections Committee to prevent Marzel, head of the far-right Jewish National Front party, from monitoring polls in the Arab city on election day.

Mazuz said that Marzel's presence in the city will harm the public order and the purity of the election process, and said that his request was based on information from security services and police.

Justice Rivlin said he does not have the authority to disqualify Marzel, except in the event that there are disturbances at the polling station on election day.

The request submitted to Rivlin said that Marzel's appointment to the Umm al-Fahm polling station was "a provocative act" that goes against election law and the principles of democracy.

Umm al-Fahm officials on Thursday announced plans to block Marzel's entry to the city on election day, where he is scheduled to serve as a poll station supervisor.

By law, every party is permitted to field 40 representatives at voting stations around the country.

The National Union, which comprises four separate factions - Hatikva, Tekuma, Moledet, and Eretz Yisrael Shelanu ("Our Land of Israel") - received approval to dispatch 160 deputies. Marzel's faction - Eretz Yisrael Shelanu - decided to place him at the Umm al-Fahm ballot box.

Party activists also plan on supervising voting booths in other Arab towns, including Kafr Kassem, Taibeh, Tira, Fureidis, Sakhnin, and Shfaram.