Canberra site for first votes cast in Israeli poll

By Misha Schubert, Canberra
March 17, 2006

THE first vote in Israel's general election was cast yesterday, not in the political heart of Jerusalem, but in the drizzly suburbs of Canberra.

Two weeks before polling day in their home country, Israeli diplomats and government officials lodged their ballots in a day of remote voting around the globe, starting in Australia and ending in Los Angeles at 3pm today (Australian time).

But other Israeli citizens living abroad are not afforded the same right. In rules seen as an attempt to buffer elections against the more hardline views of some Israelis living abroad, others can cast a vote only if they are in Israel on polling day.

Each election, thousands of foreign residents make the trek back, and the Israeli embassy predicts as many as 10,000, mostly from the US, will return for the March 28 poll.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/canberra-site-for-first-votes-cast-in-israeli-poll/2006/03/16/1142098600500.html