The Likud party has submitted a formal request to Central Elections Committee Chairman and Deputy President of the High Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, asking him to reconsider his decision prohibiting party representatives from reporting, in real time, which voters have already cast their ballots.

In a letter sent to Sohlberg, the party called for the restriction on the use of election-day voter tracking and turnout applications to be revoked.

As an alternative, Likud requested that if the directive remains in place, it should apply only beginning with the next election rather than the current campaign. The request was submitted by the party’s legal adviser, attorney Ilan Bombach, following the political backlash sparked by the ruling earlier this week.

Likud argues that prohibiting party representatives from reporting voter turnout at polling stations significantly hampers campaign operations. The party contends that the ruling sets an unprecedented precedent and changes “the rules of the game in the middle of the game.”

Earlier on Thursday, Likud MK Avichai Buaron proposed an alternative: the Central Elections Committee itself should distribute the information to all parties in real time.

Under Buaron’s proposal, Central Elections Committee staff stationed at polling places would collect voter turnout data and distribute it to all parties every hour in an identical manner. He argued that such a system would preserve voter privacy while ensuring equal treatment for all parties contesting the election.

“If the chairman of the Central Elections Committee objects to party representatives reporting voting data to their parties, then the committee itself should provide a transparent, impartial, and official alternative,” Buaron said.

He added, “The Central Elections Committee’s staff are present at every polling station and have real-time access to voter turnout data, which they can easily distribute to all parties once every hour.”

Buaron also criticized recent decisions by the Elections Committee, saying that “the interventions, appointments, and controversial decisions made by the committee, which clearly affect the election process and the activities of right-wing parties, are deeply concerning.”

He said the committee’s role is to ensure that elections are conducted fairly and transparently, not to restrict parties’ field operations.

“We all want fair elections,” Buaron said. “If there is a problem with party representatives reporting voter turnout data, the solution is simple: the Elections Committee should provide the information itself to all parties.”

Concluding his remarks, Buaron said, “This is 2026, not 1956. There is no technological or democratic justification for denying parties basic real-time turnout information. We will not give up our demand for fair and transparent elections.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)