- Ambassador Taub casts his vote (Photo: Yakir Zur)
Today, 10-01-13, HE Daniel Taub, Israel’s Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s was one of the first people to cast their votes in Israeli elections at the Embassy in London. Early voting for the Israeli parliamentary elections has started, with New Zealand the first to open its polls at 4am GMT, and overseas voting to be concluded in Los Angeles in the early hours on Friday.
Some 4260 Israeli envoy workers are casting their ballots in 95 missions around the world. These include official Israeli delegates – diplomats, civil servants, Jewish agency workers etc. Official Israeli delegates have been voting overseas since 1996.
Casting his vote in the ballot box, Ambassador Taub said: “As we go behind the screen to choose our vote, every one of us gives expression to his or her own conscience and individual outlook. But once we have cast our vote, we again are united in working together to represent the State of Israel. In its own way, our embassy is a model of how Israeli society can work together.”
A recent poll has shown that most Israelis will be focusing on both Security and Socioeconomic issues- unlike previous elections where the Security issue led most of the voters. Another poll shows that an overwhelming majority of the Jewish population in Israel intends to go to the polls, and that the party leader is less important than their ideology. Combining social and economic issues together yields a total of 52%, more than the percentage (42%) of those who chose peace and security as most important- seemingly reflecting a noteworthy change in the Israeli public’s order of priorities.