Israel's interior minister defends refusal to delay municipal elections

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel defended his position not to postpone municipal elections again, during a Knesset plenum session Wednesday morning.

Arbel explained that the law passed in October that delayed the elections from the end of October to January 30 only included a clause that would allow for another deferment in case the circumstances in Israel did not allow for elections to be held properly.

After being urged to use the clause and push off the elections until February 27, Arbel said he had asked professionals in the army and the elections committee for their opinions, since he wanted objective views on the matter.

When should the elections be held?

They responded that holding the elections at the end of January would be possible and even preferable. The interior minister had also been assured that holding the elections in January would not damage the soldiers’ rights to vote or be elected.

For weeks, other parties in Knesset, in particular the Religious Zionist Party, have been urging Arbel to postpone the elections a second time, saying that candidates who are serving as reserves are unable to manage their campaigns while at war, thus giving an unfair advantage to candidates from parties whose voter base mostly do not serve in the IDF.

“The subject of the election date is one of the most sensitive,” said Arbel. “Any date that is chosen, one way or the other, can strengthen or weaken certain candidates.

“I call on all MKs to put party interests aside and look at this objectively. My fellow Shas members and candidates from the party are also angry about my decision and don’t like it, but we cannot allow ourselves to be dragged into these subjects out of political considerations.”

He added that it was important to hold elections in January, if possible, because municipalities around the country are struggling due to a lack of clear leadership, and that stability needed to be restored to them as soon as possible.

Postponing the elections until February would require approval from the government’s cabinet as well as 75% agreement in the Interior Committee. The process has to be initiated by the interior minister.

As a result of Arbel’s strong refusal to begin the process, a number of MKs began preparing a bill on Tuesday that would force the elections to be postponed until February without Arbel’s approval.

The interior minister said that if the bill passed in the Knesset, he would respect it, but pointed out that it should have been advanced a month ago.