Justice Sohlberg says national emergency could justify limited delay of elections

Supreme Court deputy chief, who leads the Central Elections Committee, reportedly says delay would have to be ‘last resort,’ and that ‘only a fool wouldn’t see we’re in a crisis’

Deputy Supreme Court Chief Justice Noam Sohlberg, head of the Central Elections Committee, said Tuesday that an emergency could in the “last resort” justify a limited delay in holding elections, Hebrew media reported.

If the emergency prevents a free and fair vote, “a limited, regulated and grounded delay could be justified, on condition that it doesn’t become a tool of the leadership to extend its tenure,” the Ynet news outlet quoted Sohlberg as telling an academic conference at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He called on the CEC to be ready for anything, “so we’re not thrust into a situation where we need to think about pushing off the election,” the report said.

The Israel Hayom newspaper also quoted Sohlberg as saying “only a fool wouldn’t see we’re in a crisis” given the security situation, social divisions, foreign influence efforts, artificial intelligence and “blurred lines between what’s acceptable and what isn’t.”

Sohlberg was presenting a paper on the topic along with CEC Director-General Dean Livne, whom Sohlberg appointed after Orly Adas stepped down in May, reportedly amid fears that right-wing attacks on her could harm public faith in the elections.

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According to Sohlberg, Ynet reported, a motion to delay elections because of an emergency would have to demonstrate there was “substantial harm” to the possibility of a free and fair ballot.

The decision to push off an election, he reportedly said, would have to be transparent and include a clear framework for either a new date for the vote or a mechanism for selecting a new date.

Before deciding to postpone elections, authorities would also have to consider alternatives such as early voting and special ballot boxes for soldiers and displaced people, Sohlberg said, according to Ynet.

Israel is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections by October 27, with Ynet reporting Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ultra-Orthodox allies had settled on an October 20 election.

Allegations last year that the government was seeking to push off the election led former prime minister Naftali Bennett, one of Netanyahu’s main challengers, to call on security officials to resist pressure to “bend the law.”

Coalition ministers at the time said the elections would be held as planned and accused Bennett of fabricating concerns about the issue.

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