JERUSALEM: Israel’s election board has approved far-right Jewish candidates accused by rivals of racism for next month’s election while disqualifying an Arab party that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said supports violent resistance against the country.
The Central Elections Committee’s decisions were unlikely to be implemented before court appeals, but stoked an already acrimonious race for the April 9 vote.
Facing a corruption case and a merger of centrist parties that could defeat him, the conservative Netanyahu has allied with an ultra-nationalist list that includes the Jewish Power party to boost his chances.
The elections committee, made up of members of the outgoing parliament, struck down motions that had sought to bar as racist Jewish Power’s Michael Ben-Ari and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Left-wing party Meretz said it would appeal, along with centre-left Labour, to the Supreme Court against the decision to let the Jewish Power candidates stand.
The committee also voted 17-10 to bar the joint Arab party Raam-Balad from the election in accordance with a motion filed by Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party.
Raam-Balad describes itself as a democratic movement opposed to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. “We have a fierce argument with Zionism,” Mansour Abbas, who heads the Raam faction, said.
Raam-Balad now holds eight of parliament’s 120 seats. Candidates of other parties representing Israel’s 20 per cent Arab minority remain eligible to run.
Abbas rejected the charge and said Raam-Balad would also appeal.
“We undergo this travesty during every election campaign. In the end, the Supreme Court voids the Elections Committee’s political, populist decisions,” he said in separate remarks on Thursday.
The Supreme Court did reinstate Balad after it was disqualified in 2009, when it ran separately in a parliamentary election.
Netanyahu is battling for political survival after Israel’s attorney-general said last week he plans to indict him in three corruption cases. He denies wrongdoing. — Reuters
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