World

Israeli PR Firm Boasts About Lowering Voter Turnout With Hidden Cameras at Arab Polling Sites

SUPRESSION?

The firm reportedly boasted that its efforts lowered “the voter turnout to under 50 percent, the lowest in recent years!”

RTS2H1H6_rzqaoi
Ammar Awad/Reuters

An Israeli PR firm behind the initiative to install 1,200 hidden cameras in Arab polling stations on Election Day bragged that its efforts led to one of the lowest-ever Arab voter turnouts recorded. “Thanks to us placing observers in every polling station we managed to lower the voter turnout to under 50 percent, the lowest in recent years!” the company, Kaizler Inbar, reportedly posted on Facebook. “After a long preparation period, an amazing logistical base and deep and close partnership with the best people in Likud, we put together an operation that contributed crucially to one of the most important achievements of the right-wing bloc: Keeping the Arab vote legal!”

According to a Haaretz report, Arab communities only saw a turnout of 49 percent—compared with the aggregate election turnout of 67.9 percent. A witness reportedly told the newspaper “riots and confrontations” broke out once the cameras were discovered, which stopped voting at some stations. Benjamin Netanyahu, who ran for president under the Likud party, reportedly said his party was behind the camera initiative.

Read it at Forward