Israelis Ready for General Elections Amid Tight Security

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Israelis Ready for General Elections Amid Tight Security

Some 4.7 million Israeli voters have registered to participate in Tuesday's elections for the 16th Knesset (parliament) amid tight security.

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Some 4.7 million Israeli voters have registered to participate in Tuesday's elections for the 16th Knesset (parliament) amid tight security.

The 7,967 polling stations across the country will open at 7 a.m. (0050 GMT) and close 15 hours later at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT).

The Central Elections Committee (CEC) said it has completed preparations for the ballot.

All the requisite equipment - ballot boxes, screens, envelopes, electoral registers, voting slips and sundry office supplies - was transported on Sunday to the 8,000 or so polling station secretaries.

The CEC printed a total of five million voting slips in Hebrew, and half a million slips are printed in Russian and Arabic. In order to print this huge quantity of slips, the CEC purchased 100 tons of white paper.

Around 200,000 people will vote using the "double envelope" system. They include Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and reservists, 11,000 inmates of 45 prisons and holding centers acrossthe country, 36,000 hospitalized patients and the staff of hospitals with more than 50 beds.

Last week, elections were held at 92 overseas diplomatic missions. CEC Director General Tamar Edri said all these votes willbe counted by Thursday evening, by which an accurate picture of thenew balance of power in the Knesset will be known.

Although the country is ready for the polls, local press has noted that "the public grew tired of the swift succession of government and lost whatever faith it had left in its elected representatives."

Going through the bloodshed conflicts with Palestinians in the past 28 months, none of Israelis feels optimistic about the peace vision, some people said.

The escalation of the bloody conflict between Israeli troops andPalestinian militants has reportedly killed some 2,900 people, including 2,151 Palestinians and 687 Israelis, since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising 28 months ago.

Meanwhile, the country has seen the worst economic situation since the Jewish state was established in 1948, with the rate of unemployment standing over 10 percent and its currency, shekel, falling.

The public holds there is no military solution, and it is being told there is no political solution either. People have no peace orsecurity in sight, what they want is a wall of separation.

"I will not go out to vote, no difference between the parties atall, no one will lead us out of the intensified conflict quickly," said Moti Peres, adding many of his friends have the same disappointment.

Concerned about possible Palestinian attacks during the electionperiod, Israeli closed all Palestinian territories Sunday afternoonto prevent Palestinians' entry.

The Israeli government also decided to deploy 1,500 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers to reinforce 25,000 security guards on the election day.

In order to ensure the security of those voting at remote polling stations, the CEC has decided that polling station officials who need to travel to settlements in the Palestinian territories will be afforded armored cars, and will be accompanied by IDF patrols.

The ballot boxes themselves will also be guarded by police and soldiers.

26 parties will be competing in the election after two others announced their withdrawal on Sunday.

Opinion polls show only 16 parties may have a chance of winning places.

A party must receive at least 1.5 percent of the votes cast, about 50,000 votes, to win seats. The seats are apportioned according to the votes the parties will receive.

All final polls published Monday in Israeli press showed that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's hawkish Likud party far ahead of its rivals for victory, which would gain at 30-33 seats in the Knesset (Parliament), compared with 18-19 seats for the Labor party chairedby Amiram Mitzna and 16 seats for the secular Shinoy party chaired by the journalist Tomi Lapid.

Yet analysts believe no party will obtain a overwhelming majority in the Parliament, and political instability will certainly continue.

Unofficial but almost-final results should be available on earlyWednesday.

Under the Israeli constitution, after the official results are announced, Israeli President Moshe Katzav has a week to appoint onenewly-elected member in the Knesset who is usually the leader of the largest party in the Knesset to form the government. by Liu Hong

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