Knesset Elections Law [Consolidated Version], 5729-1969
חוק הבחירות לכנסת [נוסח משולב], תשכ"ט-1969
Published: 1969-04-14Last amended 2026-07-16✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-29
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Chapter X-C: Elections in Hospitals and Institutions for Persons with Mobility Impairments
Definitions§
116l.
In this Chapter –
"hospitalised person" – a voter who on election day was hospitalised in a hospital, excluding a person who on election day was admitted for hospitalisation in a day hospitalisation ward;
"hospital" – within the meaning of section 24 of the Public Health Ordinance, 1940, containing at least 50 patient beds.
Polling Stations for Hospitalised Persons§
116m.
(a)A hospitalised person may vote at a polling station for hospitalised persons placed in the hospital in which the person is hospitalised.
(a1)Police officers posted at a polling station for hospitalised persons for the purpose of maintaining order shall also be entitled to vote at it, as shall members of the medical staff of the hospital, if the hospital director or a person authorised by the hospital director for that purpose is satisfied that it is likely that such an employee will be unable to exercise the right to vote in any other way; such an employee shall be given a written authorisation attesting to the employee's entitlement to vote at the polling station for hospitalised persons, in the form prescribed by Regulations.
(b)Not later than the 53rd day before election day, the Minister of Health shall submit to the chairperson of the Central Committee a list of all hospitals and shall indicate in respect of them such additional particulars as prescribed by Regulations.
(c)The chairperson of the Central Committee, after consultation with the Central Committee, shall determine, not later than the 30th day before election day, the hospitals in which polling stations for hospitalised persons shall be placed; the polling station shall be situated, to the extent possible, in a central location in the hospital that is conveniently accessible to hospitalised persons; the chairperson of the Central Committee shall determine the location of the polling station within the hospital, after consultation with the Minister of Health or a person appointed by the Minister for that purpose, and may determine that more than one polling station shall be placed in a hospital, or that one polling station shall be placed at different locations in the hospital or in different hospitals, at hours to be determined by the chairperson.
Composition of Polling Committees§
116n.
(a)The polling committees for hospitalised persons shall be composed of representatives of the factions represented on the Central Committee; their factional composition, including the chairpersons, shall be determined by the chairperson of the Central Committee after consultation with the Central Committee.
(b)The provisions of sections 21a and 24(t1) shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to polling committees for hospitalised persons.
Voting Procedures§
116o.
(a)The chairperson of the Central Committee, in consultation with the Minister of Health, shall determine provisions regarding the procedures for the operation and functioning of polling stations for hospitalised persons, including the voting hours at polling stations generally or at a particular polling station, as well as provisions regarding the manner of publication in hospitals of the voting hours and the location of the polling station in the hospital.
(b)On election day, before the opening of the polling station in the hospital, the hospital shall give every hospitalised person a written confirmation of the person's hospitalised status, in the form prescribed by Regulations; a hospitalised person who was admitted to the hospital on election day by the time determined by the chairperson of the Central Committee, after consultation with the Minister of Health or a person appointed by the Minister for that purpose, shall receive such confirmation upon admission.
(c)A hospitalised person wishing to vote at a polling station for hospitalised persons shall identify himself or herself as provided in section 74 and shall present a confirmation as referred to in subsection (b).
(d)A person voting at a polling station for hospitalised persons shall place the envelopes referred to in sections 74a and 75(a) inside a second envelope; the polling committee shall indicate on the face of the outer envelope the name of the voter, the voter's identity number in the population registry, and such additional particulars as have been prescribed by Regulations.
(e)The transfer of polling stations for hospitalised persons to the Central Committee and the counting of votes of those who voted at them shall be as prescribed by Regulations.
Election Campaigning§
116p.
(a)Campaign material shall not be posted or hung in a hospital, except as provided in subsection (b).
(b)A representative of a candidate list may submit to the Central Committee the name, address and telephone number of the list, and these shall be published in hospitals at the place and in the manner to be determined by the chairperson of the Central Committee and the chairperson's deputies in consultation with the Minister of Health or a person appointed by the Minister for that purpose.
(c)Public election campaigning, orally, in all its forms, is prohibited in a hospital.
Special Powers§
116q.
The provisions of section 70a shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to elections in hospitals.
Voting by Persons with Mobility Impairments Residing in an Institution§
116q1.
(a)A person with a mobility impairment who resides in an institution as a result of that impairment and which has been recognised under the provisions of this Chapter (in this section – recognised institution) by the Minister of Labour and Welfare, may vote at a polling station placed in the institution in which the person resides.
(b)The Minister of Labour and Welfare may recognise an institution in which at least 50 persons with mobility impairments reside, in the course of their ordinary lives, as a result of their mobility impairment, and which is under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour and Welfare, as an institution in which a polling station shall be placed for the purpose of voting by those persons; this section shall not apply to an old-age home.
(c)The provisions of this Law shall apply to voting in a recognised institution, with the necessary modifications and with the following modifications:
(1)in this Chapter, instead of "Minister of Health" read "Minister of Labour and Welfare";
(2)for the purposes of section 75(b), the escort shall be the secretary of the polling committee.
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Contact Us →Chapter X-C-A: (Lapsed)
116q2.§
(Repealed — תשפ״ב)
116q3.§
(Repealed — תשפ״ב)
116q4.§
(Repealed — תשפ״ב)
116q5.§
(Repealed — תשפ״ב)
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Contact Us →Chapter X-C-B: (Lapsed)
116q6.§
(Repealed — תשפ״ב)
116q7.§
(Repealed — תשפ״ב)
116q8.§
(Repealed — תשפ״ב)
116q9.§
(Repealed — תשפ״ב)
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Contact Us →Chapter X-C-C: Voting by Persons Evacuated from their Homes due to the Security Situation
Voting by Persons Evacuated from their Homes due to the Security Situation§
116q10.
(a)In this Chapter –
"public body" –
(1)the Government and Government ministries, including their units and their auxiliary units;
(2)a local authority;
(3)a corporation established by law;
"evacuee" – a person who left his place of residence due to the security situation, since the twenty-second day of Tishrei 5784 (7 October 2023), and has not yet returned to reside therein;
"designated polling station for evacuees" – a polling station designated for voting by evacuees.
(b)A voter who is an evacuee may vote in the elections at a designated polling station for evacuees or at any polling station designated as a polling station for voting by persons with limited mobility pursuant to the provisions of section 68a.
(c)
(1)A public body shall transmit to the Chairperson of the Central Committee, upon his request, statistical information regarding the number of evacuees known to it, and in the case of a local authority – the number of evacuees who have moved to reside within it, all broken down by locality and street, if the information is in the possession of the public body;
(2)the transmission of information as referred to in paragraph (1) shall be in the manner and at the times determined by the Chairperson of the Central Committee, and the provisions enacted by virtue of section 23g of the Privacy Protection Law, 5741-1981, shall not apply thereto.
(d)Information transmitted pursuant to subsection (c) shall serve the Central Committee for the purpose of determining the locations of the polling stations as referred to in subsection (e), and shall be deleted shortly after the day of publication of the election results and no later than 14 days from that date.
(e)The Chairperson of the Central Committee, after consultation with the Central Committee, shall determine the locations at which designated polling stations for evacuees shall be placed; the Chairperson shall determine the locations of the polling stations as aforesaid no later than the 30th day before election day, and may update his determination from time to time.
Composition of Polling Committees at Designated Polling Stations for Evacuees§
116q11.
(a)Polling committees at designated polling stations for evacuees shall be composed of representatives of the factions represented on the Central Committee; the number of members thereon and their factional composition, including the chairpersons, shall be determined by the Chairperson of the Central Committee after consultation with the Central Committee.
(b)The provisions of sections 21a and 24(i1) shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to polling committees at designated polling stations for evacuees.
Voting Procedures at a Designated Polling Station for Evacuees§
116q12.
(a)The Chairperson of the Central Committee may establish provisions regulating voting at designated polling stations for evacuees, including provisions regarding the procedures for operating and conducting business at the polling stations, voting procedures thereat and voting hours at the designated polling stations in general or at a particular polling station.
(b)The Central Committee shall publish a notice regarding the locations of the designated polling stations for evacuees, and the voting procedures and voting hours thereat, on the Central Committee's website and by any additional means that the Chairperson of the Committee considers effective and accessible to different groups in the population.
(c)An evacuee voting at a designated polling station for evacuees or at a polling station designated pursuant to the provisions of section 68a shall identify himself before the secretary of the polling committee as referred to in section 74(a) and (b), and after signing a form in which he declares that he is an evacuee, shall place the voting envelope inside an outer envelope, and the polling committee shall indicate on the face of the outer envelope the voter's name, his identity number in the population registry and additional particulars prescribed in Regulations, and he shall cast the envelope into the ballot box in the presence of the polling committee.
(d)The counting of the votes of those who voted pursuant to this section shall be as prescribed in Regulations made under section 68a(f).
Special Powers in relation to a Designated Polling Station for Evacuees§
116q13.
The provisions of section 70a shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to elections under this Chapter.
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Contact Us →Chapter X-D: Voting by the Secretary of a Polling Committee, Members of a Polling Committee, Members of the Central Committee and Employees of Elections Committees
Voting by the Secretary of a Polling Committee§
116r.
(a)The secretary of a polling committee may vote at the polling station at which he serves as secretary; however, his identification pursuant to section 74 shall be before the chairperson of the committee.
(b)A secretary voting as referred to in subsection (a) shall place the voting envelope inside an outer envelope, and the polling committee shall indicate on the face of the outer envelope his name, his identity number in the population registry and additional particulars prescribed in Regulations, and the secretary shall cast the envelope into the ballot box in the presence of the polling committee.
(c)The counting of the votes of a person who voted pursuant to this section shall be as prescribed in Regulations in respect of the counting of the votes of voters who voted pursuant to section 68a.
Voting by Members of a Polling Committee and Observers§
116s.
(a)A member of a polling committee may vote at the polling station at which he serves as a member, if one of the following conditions is met:
(1)the Chairperson of the Central Elections Committee, in consultation with his deputies, found that there exist special circumstances connected to the discharge of the duties of the member of the polling committee by reason of which he is unable to vote at a polling station in his area of residence;
(2)he served as a member at that same polling station for at least six consecutive hours during which the polling station was open for voting.
(a1)The secretary of the polling committee shall record in the minutes the names and identity numbers in the population registry of members of the polling committee who voted at the polling station at which they served as members, and shall confirm that the conditions referred to in subsection (a)(1) or (2), as the case may be, have been met.
(b)A member of a polling committee voting as referred to in subsection (a) (in this section – the voting member) shall place the voting envelope inside an outer envelope, and the polling committee, excluding the voting member, shall indicate on the face of the outer envelope his name, his identity number in the population registry and additional particulars prescribed in Regulations; the voting member shall cast the envelope into the ballot box in the presence of the remaining members of the polling committee.
(b1)The provisions of subsections (a)(2), (a1) and (b) shall also apply to an observer pursuant to section 24(d).
(c)The counting of the votes of a person who voted pursuant to this section shall be as prescribed in Regulations made under section 68a(f).
Voting by Members of the Central Committee and Employees of Elections Committees§
116s1.
(a)A member of the Central Committee and an employee of the Central Committee or of a regional committee may vote at a polling station in the electoral district in which they discharge their duties on election day, in the manner in which the secretary of a polling committee votes at a polling station pursuant to section 116r, provided that the Chairperson of the Central Committee, or an employee of the Committee whom he has authorised for that purpose, found that there exist circumstances connected to the discharge of the duties of the member or employee on election day by reason of which he is unable to vote at a polling station in his area of residence, and that he has presented a certificate issued to him by the Central Committee stating that he is entitled to vote as referred to in this section.
(b)The Chairperson of the Central Committee may determine special polling station locations at the seat of the Central Committee or of a regional committee for the purpose of voting pursuant to this section.
(c)The Chairperson of the Central Committee shall establish provisions regarding the procedures for operating and conducting business at polling stations as referred to in subsection (b), including voting hours at the polling stations in general or at a particular polling station, the composition of polling committees and the manner of voting, subject to the provisions of section 116r.
(d)In this section, "employee" – including a person who works for the committee, performs a function on its behalf or provides it with services on election day only.
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Contact Us →Chapter XI: Offences
Forgery of a Register or List§
117.
(a)One who forges a register of voters or a voters' list, and one who unlawfully alters or destroys either of these, is liable to imprisonment of seven years or a fine of 10,000 liras; if the offence was committed by a person responsible for the preparation, custody, safekeeping or presentation of the register or list, he is liable to imprisonment of fourteen years or a fine of 10,000 liras.
(b)Paragraph (7) of the Schedule to the Criminal Procedure Law, 5725-1965, shall not apply to an offence under this section.
118.§
(Repealed — תיקון מס' 41, 2000)
Unlawful Use of Register Information§
118a.
One who makes use of register information or who transmits information from register information as defined in section 39, other than for the purposes of standing in elections or for the purposes of contact with the body of voters, is liable to imprisonment of two years or the fine prescribed in section 61(a)(4) of the Penal Law, 5737-1977.
Disruption of Elections§
119.
(a)The following are liable to imprisonment of two years or a fine of 10,000 liras:
(1)one who disrupts the orderly conduct of the elections;
(2)one who prepares or distributes voting slips that do not conform to the provisions of this Law;
(3)one who interferes with a voter in voting or prevents him from voting;
(4)one who handles a ballot box without authorisation or removes a ballot box from the custody of those responsible for it;
(5)one who interferes without authorisation with the opening of a ballot box or with the counting of the votes;
(6)one who destroys, soils, marks, conceals or unlawfully takes a voting slip found in a voting booth at a polling station location, in a manner that may interfere with voting;
(7)one who destroys, conceals or unlawfully takes voting material that is to be transferred to a regional committee or to the Central Committee;
(8)one who destroys a voting envelope from among the envelopes removed from the ballot box before it has been included in the count of the votes.
(b)If an offence under this section was committed by a member of an elections committee or by a person responsible for a ballot box or for maintaining order at the polling station location, he is liable to imprisonment of five years or a fine of 20,000 liras. In this subsection, "a person responsible for a ballot box" – including a member of a polling committee or the secretary of a polling committee.
Abandonment of Voting Material§
120.
The chairperson of a polling committee or his deputy pursuant to section 24, or the secretary of a polling committee, who abandons, after completion of the vote count, the voting minutes or the voting material referred to in section 79, is liable to imprisonment of five years or a fine of 20,000 liras.
Non-Fulfilment of a Duty by a Responsible Person§
121.
A responsible person pursuant to Chapter X or Chapter X-B who has not fulfilled a duty imposed upon him in that Chapter is liable to imprisonment of five years or a fine of 20,000 liras.
Corruption and Intimidation§
122.
The following are liable to imprisonment of five years or a fine of 20,000 liras:
(1)one who gives or offers a bribe in order to influence a voter to vote or to refrain from voting, in general or in favour of a particular candidate list;
(2)one who receives or agrees to receive a bribe, for himself or for another person, so that he will vote or refrain from voting, in general or in favour of a particular candidate list;
(3)one who threatens a voter with the causing of harm, to him or to another person, if the voter votes or refrains from voting, in general or in favour of a particular candidate list;
(4)one who promises a voter employment if he votes or refrains from voting in favour of a particular candidate list;
(5)one who dismisses or threatens to dismiss a person from employment, or prevents or threatens to prevent him from obtaining employment, in order that he will vote or not vote, or because he voted or did not vote in favour of a particular candidate list, or because he abstained or did not abstain from voting, or in order that he will abstain or not abstain, or because he abstained or did not abstain, from election campaigning, in general or in favour of a particular candidate list;
(6)one who induces a person to vote or to refrain from voting, in general or in favour of a particular candidate list, by means of an oath, curse, excommunication, boycott, vow, release from a vow, a promise to bestow a blessing, or the giving of an amulet; for this purpose, "amulet" – including any object which, in the eyes of part of the public, has the power to benefit or harm him.
Forms of Bribery§
123.
It is immaterial in respect of a bribe –
(1)whether it was money, money's worth, a service or other benefit, excluding the transportation of a voter by vehicle to and from the polling station location for the purpose of his voting;
(2)whether it was for an act of the recipient himself or for his influence over the act of another person;
(3)whether it was given by the giver directly or through another person, whether it was given into the hands of the recipient or for the benefit of the recipient into the hands of another person, whether it was given in advance or after the fact, and whether the beneficiary of the bribe was the recipient or another person.
Unlawful Voting§
124.
(a)The following are liable to imprisonment of two years or a fine of 10,000 liras:
(1)one who uses, for the purpose of identifying himself before a polling committee or before a responsible person pursuant to Chapter X, a means of identification as referred to in section 74 or an identity booklet that is not his own, or in which any entry or alteration has been unlawfully made, with intent to deceive the polling committee or the responsible person, and who has not proved that the use was in good faith;
(2)one who votes more than once, whether at the same polling station or at different polling stations;
(3)one who intentionally casts into the ballot box more than one envelope, whether it contains a voting slip or is empty.
(b)If the offence referred to in subsection (a) was committed by a member of a polling committee or the secretary of a polling committee, or if either of them enabled another to commit the offence, he is liable to five years' imprisonment or the fine prescribed in section 61(a)(4) of the Penal Law, 5737-1977.
Extortion of Hall Rental Fees§
125.
One who demands or receives for the rental of a hall for the purpose of an election meeting a fee exceeding the average fee he received in the year preceding the year of elections for the rental of that hall for similar purposes, is liable to imprisonment of two years or a fine of 10,000 liras.
Other Offences in Connection with Elections§
126.
The following are liable to imprisonment of six months or a fine of 1,000 liras:
(1)one who disrupts the orderly conduct of a campaign meeting on behalf of a candidate list published pursuant to section 65;
(2)one who removes, destroys or soils a notice on election matters on behalf of an elections committee or a notice containing election campaigning on behalf of a candidate list published pursuant to section 65, except for a notice affixed to his home, shop or office without his consent or whose time has passed;
(3)one who destroys or conceals election campaign material on behalf of a candidate list published pursuant to section 65, or who otherwise prevents such material from reaching its lawful destination;
(3a)one who signs a form as referred to in section 68a(e)(1) while not being a person with limited mobility, or a form as referred to in section 116q12(c) while not being an evacuee as defined in section 116q10;
(4)(Repealed);
(5)one who conducts election campaigning on election day, in writing, orally or in any other form, at a polling station location or within 5 metres of the entrance gate to a polling station location, and at a polling station location that has no courtyard and outer fence – within 10 metres of the outer walls of the polling station location; in this paragraph, "polling station location" – the area of the building in which a ballot box is located, including the courtyard of the building and the outer fence of the building;
(5a)a person who contravened a prohibition pursuant to section 75(b);
(6)one who violates a provision of this Law not mentioned in this Chapter.
Election Campaigning Incidental to the Handling of Identity Card Matters§
127.
A State employee, an official of the Central Committee, of a regional committee or of a polling committee, as well as a person in charge of an immigrant camp or one of his officials, who fills out an identity card application form on behalf of another person, or who receives in his hands another person's registration slip for the purpose of transferring the slip to the Population Registry Office, and who in so doing conducts election campaigning, is liable to imprisonment of three months or a fine of 500 liras.
Jurisdiction etc.§
128.
In respect of offences under this Chapter, except for section 117 –
(1)(Repealed);
(2)the Attorney General shall not be entitled to stay the proceedings.
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