- Title: ISRAEL: Israel prepares ballots ahead of elections
- Date: 7th January 2013
- Summary: HAM, ISRAEL (JANUARY 7, 2013) (REUTERS) WIDE INTERIOR VIEW OF WAREHOUSE WHERE ISRAELI CENTRAL ELECTION COMMITTEE ARE PREPARING BALLOT BOXES VIEW OF BOXES WITH VOTER BALLOTS CLOSEUP OF DOCUMENT READING IN HEBREW 'PROTOCOL OF THE VOTING PROCEDURE AND ITS RESULTS IN THE VOTING STATION' WORKERS IN WAREHOUSE SIGNS FOR NUMBERS OF VOTING STATIONS WOMEN SORTING PAPERS IN VOTING
- Embargoed: 22nd January 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA4J8IFCSPSEG8YFARDTOD9LOC3
- Story Text: Israel elections committee prepares ballot boxes for distribution across the country ahead of January 22 poll.
The Israeli Central Election Committee prepared ballot boxes on Monday (January 7) to be shipped to voting stations across the country.
Paper slips identifying political parties in the January 22 poll were carefully sorted into boxes and wheeled to the next worker in line who placed a sticker on the box to mark the polling station where it will be delivered. The boxes were then carefully sealed ahead of shipment.
The assembly-line atmosphere was created as residents from across the country offered assistance.
"We are filling as you see the boxes, the voting boxes which are going from here throughout the land of Israel and you see here many groups of people from all around - the religious, non-religious - working here in this place," said one worker, Lipa Glance.
Latest opinion polls predict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, running in the election in partnership with the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu faction led by former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, will win the national ballot.
Centrist Hatenuah party chief Tzipi Livni said a joint centre-left campaign would have attracted enough undecided voters, seeking an alternative to Netanyahu, to create a bloc of more than 40 seats in the 120-member parliament, topping the 37 forecast for Likud-Yisrael Beitenu.
Polls predict the three parties running separately will amass seats that number only in the mid-30s.
In the election, Israelis vote for a party's list of parliament and no one faction has ever won a majority in the legislature.
After the ballot, Israel's president chooses a party leader to try to put together a governing coalition.
That person is usually, but not always, the head of the party that won the most parliamentary seats. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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