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No staff or resources for 3rd round of voting, says elections committee head

“We don’t have staff, offices, equipment. The storerooms are empty,” says Central Elections Committee director Orly Adas.

By World Israel News Staff

If Israel goes to an unprecedented third round of elections, there will be major logistical issues.

At a press conference held in the Knesset on Thursday, the director of the Central Elections Committee, Orly Adas, said that the committee does not enough manpower and resources to manage a third election.

According to Adas, the cost of holding two elections in one year left the committee’s budget in shambles.

“The Central Elections Commission is the body that directs the entire country, without which elections are impossible,” Adas said. “We don’t have staff, offices, equipment. The storerooms are empty. This is the current situation.”

She also said that for every election, the committee needs 45,000 workers, but right now, “we don’t have the professional workers who know what election work is.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition after the April election. After the second round of voting in September, President Reuven Rivlin gave Netanyahu first dibs at forming a government. On Oct. 21, the prime minister announced that he returned the mandate because again he did not succeed.

On Oct. 23, Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz was given the opportunity but he, too, was unable to gather a coalition within the 28 days allotted to him.

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On Nov. 21, Rivlin passed the coalition-building task to the Knesset members, something that has never happened before in the history of the Jewish State. The Knesset has until Dec. 11 to form a government; otherwise, by law, the country heads to new elections.