Could Israel Cancel Its Election Over Foreign Interference? What the Law Says

Israeli election results could in theory be annulled across the country if allegations of foreign funding and election bribery are shown to have affected the vote, but such an outcome is considered highly unlikely. That is the picture that emerges from the legal framework governing election appeals and from assessments within the political establishment on Thursday.

The question has arisen after a directive to investigate suspicions of foreign funding and election bribery. At issue is what would follow if the integrity of the vote were found to be compromised. Section 86 of the Knesset Elections Law provides a mechanism to annul results and order new elections nationwide. Still, suspicions alone, or even the discovery of irregularities, do not automatically lead to cancellation.

The law also does not provide for automatic disqualification over breaches of campaign finance rules or the receipt of foreign funding. The prevailing view in the political establishment is that even significant investigative findings proving election bribery would leave the chances of a nationwide annulment slim to virtually nonexistent. Results could, however, be voided and the vote repeated at specific polling stations where proven violations could have changed the outcome.

A distinction must be drawn between the legal and political dimensions. Likud and the Netanyahu bloc launched a campaign on election night to delegitimize any political move involving the Joint List and Ra'am, from forming a minority government to replacing the Knesset speaker. The bribery allegations could feed that campaign and give it more momentum.

An appeal is permitted if the election as a whole, or voting at a given polling station, was not conducted legally. It is also allowed if votes were wrongly allocated among candidate lists, if Knesset seats were not distributed according to the law, or if votes for a list were obtained unlawfully. A central requirement is that the alleged irregularity could have affected the result.

Those entitled to appeal include members of the Central Elections Committee and regional election committees, factions in the newly elected Knesset, MKs, participating candidate lists, candidates who appeared on them, and the attorney-general. Appeals go to the Jerusalem Administrative Affairs Court within 14 days of the publication of the results, though the court may extend the deadline in special circumstances if it records its reasons.

Section 86(d) explicitly lets the court annul the elections entirely or at a particular polling station and order a new vote on a date it sets. But this is not the only remedy. The court may also recalculate the allocation of votes among lists and declare the results accordingly, or rule that a candidate was not lawfully elected and that another candidate won the seat. A successful appeal therefore does not require the whole election to be canceled.

The court's decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court on a question of law, with permission from the Supreme Court president. If the lower court annuls the elections nationwide, the specified parties may appeal as a matter of right, even if they were not parties to the original case. A panel of five justices, or a larger panel with an odd number of justices, would hear it.

An appeal would not halt the Knesset's work. Section 86(h) states that an election appeal does not delay parliamentary activity, and that its outcome does not undermine the validity of decisions the Knesset has already made. Annulling an election remains an exceptional remedy requiring judicial review, and the mere existence of suspicions is not enough to justify it.