Central Elections Committee
Central Elections CommitteeNoam Rivkin Fenton, Flash 90

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit stated Wednesday that the law did not allow the United Right to update its Knesset list after the High Court of Justice disqualified the candidacy of Otzma Yehudit candidate Dr. Michael Ben-Ari.

The attorney general wrote that "the request should be rejected, since the Central Elections Committee is not authorized to change the order of the candidates on the list of candidates submitted to it."

"True, it can be argued that it would be preferable to have a different legal arrangement that provides a response to such a case, but as long as the existing law remains in force, there is no legal possibility to grant the request in this matter," Mandelblit said.

On Sunday, the High Court of Justice made the unprecedented decision to disqualify a candidate for the Knesset, Dr. Michael Ben-Ari, who had been placed fifth on the United Right Knesset list.

Ben-Ari had previously served in the Knesset from 2009-2013.

The United Right leadership on Monday sent an urgent request to the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Hanan Meltzer, to update the party's list following Ben-Ari's disqualification.

The petition, signed by Jewish Home Chairman Rabbi Rafi Peretz and Chairman of the National Union, Bezalel Smotrich, said that despite the fact that the date stipulated in the law for submission of the lists passed, the complex legal situation created by the ruling should be taken into account and that Attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir be moved up to fifth place on the list to ensure that Otzma Yehudit would have a candidate in a realistic position to be elected to the Knesset.

The leaders wrote that "the right to vote and to be elected is a basic constitutional right and to prevent the representation of part of the population is a violation of this basic right. Due to the complex legal situation created as a result of the ruling, even though the date stipulated in the law for submission of the lists has passed, as has the date set forth in the law in which the Elections Committee is required to approve the list of candidates on the list, the name and the letters as required by law have not yet passed, and in any case the list has not received its final approval."