‘Israeli’ man claims was told dead wife voted in elections

Ariel Mirlman, an 82-year-old ‘Israeli’ from living in Herzliya, arrived at a polling station at the Smadar school on the morning of ‘Israel’s’ Knesset elections, only to be told that his wife Irit, who had died three weeks earlier, had already cast a ballot.

Mirlman reported the discovery to election officials at the site and later to local monitors.

According to accounts from the city’s election purity headquarters, Mirlman presented his identity card and was informed that his late wife’s name appeared as having voted.

He protested, saying: “Sir, you should simply be ashamed. Explain to me how she voted? She passed away three weeks ago.”

Officials at the station offered an apology without conducting an on-the-spot inquiry, according to the reports.

Dana Oren-Yanai, Herzliya’s deputy mayor and chair of the local election purity headquarters, demanded an immediate review by the Central Elections Committee.

“It is inconceivable that a person arrives at the polling station and discovers that his partner, who is no longer among the living, already appears as having voted,” she said.

“Who used her name, and did this happen at other polling stations as well?” The case remains under examination as a reported irregularity rather than a confirmed instance of fraud.

The episode surfaced amid a high-turnout national vote that produced a fragmented parliament.

With all ballots counted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc secured 53 seats, short of a majority, while the main opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot obtained 48 and Arab-led parties reached a record 19 seats combined.

Official turnout stood at 77.9 percent.

Netanyahu’s Likud party responded to the overall results by alleging that Arab parties had “stolen” the election through bribery, threats, violence, forgery and illegal voter mobilization tools, and submitted what it described as hundreds of testimonies and other material to police, the Shin Bet and election authorities.

Police stated there was no investigative or intelligence evidence supporting claims of a stolen election, describing election day as having produced only a limited number of irregular incidents compared with previous votes.

The Central Elections Committee similarly found no basis for assertions of systematic tampering.

A separate Shin Bet inquiry into possible foreign interference, referred by the elections committee chairman after Likud’s allegations, is ongoing but has been described by officials as limited in scope and not directed at any particular community of voters.

The committee has confirmed that the probe will not alter the certified results due to be submitted to the president.Individual complaints, including the Herzliya report involving a deceased voter’s identity, continue to be examined as part of routine post-election verification.