"Concerns of interference arose": Likud planned a digital revolution - and backed down at the last moment
First publication: Likud examined a transition to digital voting in the primaries, but will remain with paper ballots following warnings from cyber experts regarding potential interference by foreign entities. The final results will be delayed until tomorrow morning. Only 75,177 members voted, significantly fewer than in the Democrats party.
The Likud party planned to implement electronic voting for its primaries and had examined all technological options for the procedure. However, following consultations with cybersecurity experts, concerns arose regarding potential foreign interference that could have compromised the election results, as learned by Ynet.
Due to these warnings and associated political and security concerns, the party decided to forgo the digital option and retain the traditional manual voting method. Because of the reliance on paper ballots and the complex manual counting process, the final results of the primaries for the 26th Knesset are expected to be published only tomorrow morning.
Polling stations closed at 21:00 after an 11-hour voting day, with a turnout of 53%—totaling 75,177 voters. For comparison, the Democrats party held primaries less than a month ago with a significantly higher turnout of 86.2% (over 97,000 voters), facilitated by digital voting via mobile phones.
In the afternoon, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana told Ynet that he was concerned about the low turnout and urged voters not to delay:
"It is not something to be taken for granted that it is the Likud members who choose the Knesset members."
MK Tali Gottlieb, speaking at the Binyanei HaUma polling station in Jerusalem, remained optimistic: "Until nine in the evening there will be free votes; I believe in this people." When asked if there were attempts to thwart votes for her, she replied: "Obviously, what is the question?"
MK Amit Halevi, also at the Binyanei HaUma station, stated that the "real surprises" of the primaries would become clear in the evening. Addressing claims of irregularities among some party members, he said, "Everything is in order."
"What is important is the free votes that are arriving. If you are looking for surprises, the surprise will be in the scope of the free votes that will determine the future of the list."
Halevi emphasized that democracy is still far away, arguing that "10 judges or one legal advisor to the government think they will decide for 10 million citizens," and added that the changes initiated during this term remain the priority for the citizens.
