While most Israelis will have to wait for April 9 to vote in the elections for the 21st Knesset, Israeli representatives in 96 embassies and consulates across the globe will cast their ballots on Thursday, March 28.
According to the Knesset Election Law, private citizens living abroad cannot vote unless they come to Israel, but diplomats and emissaries sent abroad by the Jewish Agency, Jewish National Fund (KKL), Keren Hayesod and the World Zionist Organization are given the opportunity to cast their ballot in time for it to be sent via diplomatic mail to Jerusalem to be counted for Election Day.
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Some 5,000 Israelis who currently live abroad will be eligible to vote. The first polling station to open abroad will be the Israeli Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand. This polling station will open today at 10 pm, Israel time. That last polling stations to close will be those in the Israeli consulates in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The largest polling station is the consulate in New York with 700 eligible voters, while the smallest is the Israeli Embassy in Tirana, Albania, with only four eligible voters.
At the end of the process, all envelopes are sent to the Knesset in Jerusalem, where they are guarded in a safe until Election Day. After the polls close in Israel and the counting starts, the diplomats' ballots will be counted as well.
