The Ministerial Legislative Committee on Sunday discussed the Yisrael Beitenu sponsored bill seeking to permit Israelis with valid passports abroad to vote, including those out of the country for up to ten years. The bill is authored by MKs Alex Miller and David Rotem.

At present, 4,500 state representatives abroad are entitled to vote, primarily persons assigned to the diplomatic corps. Others visiting and residing abroad wishing to take part in Knesset elections are compelled to return home to cast their votes. The bill would permit registered voters to cast a ballot abroad, possibly impacting as many as 750,000 people.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has indicated he will support the bill in keeping with his coalition agreement with the Yisrael Beitenu Party. As such, if the committee approves the bill on Sunday, it will be presented in Knesset as a government-sponsored bill in April.

MKs Miller and Rotem explain that in our global society, it is increasingly common for citizens to travel and as such, many Israelis will be outside of the borders of the State of Israel on Election Day. As such, they feel the time has come to permit voting via Israel’s diplomatic installations abroad, taking examples from countries including Denmark, Spain, Holland, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Miller speaks of an increasing interest by Israelis abroad, as was evident during the last election, stating some are paying Bituach Leumi and income tax in Israel, concluding not every Israeli residing abroad has made a decision to remain outside of the State of Israel for the rest of his/her life.

Kadima remains adamantly opposed to the move, quickly enlisting a number of retired IDF high-ranking officers to speak out against the bill. Labor is also opposed as are the chareidi parties, who fear they will lose significant Knesset representation of hundreds of thousands of Israelis abroad are permitted to vote.

Likud Faction Chairman MK Ze’ev Elkin is seeking to enlist additional support for the bill, presenting a compromise, than only expatriates outside the country for a year or less prior to the election will be eligible to vote. This would permit far less expatriate voters than the bill which seeks to permit voting rights to Israelis abroad for up to a decade.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)