Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu’s party, calls for delaying the validation of the election, citing possible foreign interference in the vote

The Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, called on Monday for the postponement of the certification of the Israeli parliamentary election results, held on October 27, while authorities investigate possible foreign interference in the election.

The party’s lawyer before the Central Elections Committee, Ilan Bombach, requested an emergency meeting of the institution’s leadership. Likud maintains that the results should not be certified until the nature and extent of the suspicions are clarified and claims that the election was “stolen” through the intervention of Arab parties that do not support Zionism. The allegations have not been substantiated.

The chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, rejected the request, explaining that the institution has neither the authority to suspend the certification of the results nor the competence to intervene in the ongoing investigation. The committee stated that the suspicions under investigation are not significant enough to change the outcome of the vote. Under the law, the results must be certified no later than eight days after the election.

The opposition accuses Netanyahu of trying to undermine democracy. Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Lapid claim that Likud is challenging the results because it lost the election and is promoting conspiracy theories.

Neither of the main blocs secured the majority needed to form a government. Netanyahu’s bloc has 53 seats, the opposition 48, and the Arab parties 19, while the parliamentary majority is 61 seats.