Of the 3,787,860 Israelis eligible to vote in local municipal elections
today, a record few of them cast their ballots. Israel’s Arabs though, have shown
up in overwhelming numbers to exercise their right to vote – something most
Arabs of the Middle East don’t have the opportunity to do.

A record 93 percent of Abu Ghosh residents cast their votes today, with other
Arab towns averaging over an 80 percent turnout. The overall nationwide
turnout at 10 PM was 41 percent, which is a 20 percent decrease from local
elections five years ago.

A notable exception was the city of Nahariya, which saw 70 percent of it
41,000 eligible voters cast ballots to elect their new mayor. Nahariya is home to
10,000 new immigrants and 6,000 senior citizens, both of whom had a large
turnout at the voting stations, contributing to today’s local record.

Interior Ministry employees throughout the country took a break from their
strike this morning to issue identification cards, without which voters cannot
exercise their democratic right to choose. Close to 5,000 identity cards were
in fact issued today to people wishing to take part in the elections.

In most parts of the country, the 5,705 polling stations opened at 7 AM and
will close at 10 PM Haifa and Jerusalem did not hold elections today, however,
because both cities held special elections in June, after their previous
mayors were elected to the Knesset.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 29th, 2003 and is filed under news.