AG Menachem Mazuz
צילום: גיל יוחנן
Mazuz orders probe into Kadima primaries
Reports of possible election tampering prompt attorney general to instruct police to launch investigation; further moves await inquiry's results
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz instructed the police to launch an investigation into the results of the Kadima primaries Thursday, following reports of possible election tampering.
The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel has lodged a formal complaint on the matter with the Attorney General's Office, following one of the candidates, Dr. Akram Hasson, complaint to the group.
The Forum alleged that the elections in Kadima's Druze and Bedouin sectors were subject to various manipulations and irregularities.
The sectors' voter turnout was 90%, as opposed to the 40% general turnout, said the complaint – an unusual spike which requires looking into before the party submits its final roster to the Central Elections Committee.
Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, who won the Kadima primaries by coming in third, just after Chairwoman Tzipi Livni and Shaul Mofaz, whose slot was secured, said in a recent interview with Ynet that the primaries system, which is supposed to be an instrument of democracy, was actually corrupting public norms.
"Primaries are the most undemocratic thing in the world sicne there is no real regulation over the process," she said. "This system has corrupted the political climate in Israel."
Itzik said that after the elections, she intended to push for all three largest parties will annul the custom of primaries.
