Israeli Ambassadors,  Diplomats worldwide Cast Ballots In Early Voting Tonight

First votes will be cast Wednesday night in New Zealand; voting will take place in four new diplomatic outposts: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Rabat, and Bahrain, according to the Times of Israel.

Voting for Israeli diplomats and staff at the country’s embassies abroad is set to begin on Wednesday ahead of the March 23 elections.

The first votes will be cast in Wellington, New Zealand, at 10 p.m., Israel time.

Following New Zealand, 103 other ballot stations will be opened at around 100 embassies and missions abroad, with the final votes taking place in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Votes will be cast at four new diplomatic outposts: Morocco, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Israel established diplomatic relations with the UAE, Morocco, and Bahrain, as well as with Sudan and Bhutan, since the last national election in March 2020.

According to Israeli law, private citizens living abroad cannot vote unless they come to Israel.

But exceptions are made for diplomats and their families.

Some 4,000 Israelis will be allowed to vote at the diplomatic offices worldwide this week, according to the Maariv daily.

The law against voting while abroad caused controversy in recent weeks after Israel halted flights and barred international travelers due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, stranding thousands of citizens abroad ahead of the election.

Critics accused a committee that approved some entries of favoring right-wing voters.

The upcoming election is Israel’s second to take place under the shadow of the pandemic.

The previous election, in March 2020, was held shortly after the coronavirus first reached the country, with several special polling stations serving the relatively few people who had then been suspected or confirmed to have contracted the virus or come in contact with confirmed carriers.

Israel will fund special shuttles to polling stations for active COVID-19 patients during the upcoming vote, a top official said Monday, alongside further adaptations forced by the pandemic that will turn the election into the most expensive in the country’s history.

Central Elections Committee director Orly Adas also told reporters that dozens of buses will be converted into ballot stations for people in quarantine and to lower crowding in certain polling stations.