Israel’s Central Election Committee announced late on Tuesday night that it was amending the final election results following an investigation into electoral fraud, bumping the Likud Party from 31 to 32 seats, and the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Party from eight to seven.
The change did not alter the division of Knesset seats between the left-wing and right-wing blocs.
According to the announcement, the changes were made due to the disqualification of ballots from six polling stations in northern Israel where “real evidence of apparent vote tampering” was found. Three of the stations were in the Druze village of Yarka, while the others were the cities of Sakhnin, Shfaram and Arraba.
Other factors that affected the decision, according to the report, were the correction of statistical anomalies, and the final lots of “double ballot” votes from soldiers, prisoners and diplomats.
The Blue and White Party remains in the lead with 33 Knesset seats, followed by the Likud which now has 32. In third place is the Joint Arab List with 13 Knesset seats, followed by Shas with nine and Yisrael Beiteinu with eight. UTJ and Yamina both garnered seven Knesset seats, while the Labor-Gesher alliance has six and the Democratic Union five.
A version of this article first appeared in Israel Hayom.
