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PM Netanyahu backs plans to let Israelis vote abroad.
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Last update - 09:54 09/02/2010
Move for absentee voting prompts fire across the political spectrum
By Mazal Mualem, Jonathan Lis and Lily Galili, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: Avigdor Lieberman 
 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman announced Monday that they intend to promote a bill that would let Israeli citizens vote from abraod in Knesset elections. The parallel announcements appeared to be coordinated.

Coalition parties Shas and Labor oppose the bill, as do many opposition parties.

Kadima filed a no-confidence motion against the government over its intention "to enable people not living in Israel to vote in the elections and determine the fate of those living here."
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"All decisions for Israel's future must be determined only by those who chose to live here and shape its future," party sources said.

At the start of a Likud faction meeting Monday, Netanyahu promised to enact this legislation, which he believes will bolster citizens' ties to the country. "This is acceptable in many countries," he noted.

A short while later, Lieberman began a meeting of his party's MKs, which, in an unusual move, was open to the media. Lieberman expressed his satisfaction with the gains Yisrael Beiteinu had made in the last year and announced that, as stated in the coalition agreement, a year after the elections a bill would be prepared for a law making it possible for Israelis living abroad to vote.

A bill has already been prepared by Yisrael Beiteinu MKs that would amend the Election Law and allow citizens eligible to vote ("those holding a valid Israeli passport for 10 years") to vote in Knesset elections even though they do not live in Israel. "In the age of globalization, when many citizens live abroad because of their business affairs, they should be allowed to participate in elections through the Israeli missions abroad, as is customary in most democracies of the world," MKs Alex Miller and David Rotem wrote in justifying the bill.

In response to the bill, Kadima head, MK Tzipi Livni, said that "the privilege of determining the fate of Israel must be in the hands of those living in Israel and are willing to pay the price of their decisions in elections, for better or for worse. I believe that we must encourage Israelis to return to Israel, but the right to determine what will happen in the state needs to be reserved only for those who chose to base their future here."

The opposition leader blamed the prime minister for "proving that he is willing to sell out the future of the country to his political partners only for the sake of keeping his coalition intact."

Former Jewish National Fund chairman, MK Zeev Bielski (Kadima), expressed his strong opposition to the initiative. "The prime minister's proposal, which is part of his coalition promises to Lieberman, to give the right to vote to half a million Israelis living abroad, casts a heavy shadow over Zionism. The State of Israel is a state with unique characteristics, and the vote on election day determines not only the quality of life in the country, but also our fate. In other words, the decisions on acts of war and peace. Anyone who does not live in Israel does not bear responsibility for the results and we, who live here, will bear the consequences."

It is expected that the Yisrael Beiteinu bill will be replaced by a "softer" version, so that Shas and Labor will be able to back it.

In terms of numbers, Yisrael Beiteinu has an obvious interest in its ability to tap the votes of some 95,000 Israeli citizens currently living in the former Soviet Union, most of whom are former immigrants who returned.
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  1.   No vote if you don`t live in ISRAEL! 06:06  |  Miriam 09/02/10
  2.   Don`t most countries let their citizens abroad vote? 06:32  |  B 09/02/10
  3.   No loyalty, no citizenship 07:14  |  Niv 09/02/10
  4.   Oh, the DANGER! 07:15  |  Jordan 09/02/10
  5.   so this is all about giving votes to all who came, saw... 07:29  |  eric 09/02/10
  6.   this is only the first step in voting rights expansion 07:31  |  Rick 09/02/10
  7.   Absentee Voting 07:37  |  Michael Davison 09/02/10
  8.   #2 Is right. It is the right thing to do. 07:48  |  Avshalom Beni 09/02/10
  9.   Absentee ballots 08:23  |  MAJ 09/02/10
  10.   Great idea 08:23  |  Joe 09/02/10
  11.   Livni is anti democracy because she worries its not good for kadi 08:41  |  zionist forever 09/02/10
  12.   Keep Israelis From Voting Abroad 10:01  |  Yitzchak 09/02/10
  13.   Feverish right-wing Diaspora Jews all over the world...... 10:20  |  Swiss (Dino) 09/02/10
  14.   6 Clueless Swiss: Diaspora Jews are mostly left wing. 10:45  |  Realist 09/02/10
  15.   Keep Israelis From Voting Abroad 11:11  |  YITZCHAK YELLIN 09/02/10
  16.   REAL Absentee Ballots 12:41  |  Eliezer Blasberg 09/02/10
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