The Knesset gave its initial approval on Thursday to a proposed law that would ban the publication of polls in the four days leading up to primaries. The proposal passed unanimously with 19 MKs in favor. The proposal will now return to the Constitution, Law, and Justice committee to be reviewed prior to the second and third Knesset readings that could make it law.
A similar, existing law forbids the publication of survey results before general elections.
The proposal was written by MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor), who said his goal was to prevent pollsters from exerting undue influence over election results. “We've seen the distortions created by polls in the days before elections,” he said. “The publication of polls allows for the manipulation of voters and can have a disproportionate effect, particularly in parties with a smaller voting body. This proposal will allow for 'clean' primaries that focus on the issue at hand.”
The influence of polls over election results was brought to the public's attention recently during the Kadima primaries. An exit poll published half an hour before voting concluded showed Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni with an 11 percent lead over runner-up Sha'ul Mofaz. Many party members who were waiting to vote at the time the poll was broadcast decided their votes would no longer have an effect and left the polling booths. The poll was later shown to be wildly inaccurate as Livni defeated Mofaz by only 431 votes, less than one percent of the total vote.
In addition to limiting the times during which media outlets can broadcast poll results, the proposed law would require anyone publishing an elections-related poll to publish information about how the poll was conducted as well. Publishers would be required to include the poll's sample size, the population sampled and the method used.
Under the proposed law, anyone publishing an elections-related poll within four days of a primary vote would be subject to a NIS 26,100 fine.
Committee of Constitution, Law, and Justice head MK Professor Menachem Ben-Sasson (Kadima) said that due to the overwhelming approval with which the proposal was met, he would attempt to bring the proposal to a third and final vote prior to the dispersal of the current Knesset, only a few days from now.