Israel's fourth election in two years got underway Wednesday when polls started to open at 99 Israeli missions around the world, ahead of the official Election Day on March 23.
The first to vote were the diplomats in the New Zealand capital of Wellington. The last were to be the envoys at the Israeli consulates in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
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Israeli Ambassador to New Zealand Ran Yaakoby casts his vote in Wellington on Wednesday night
(Photo: Foreign Ministry)
A total of 4,000 Israelis have the right to vote abroad, and this year for the first time diplomats will also be voting at the newly opened missions in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE and Rabat in Morocco.
It was only in the 1990s that Israel decided to allow officials serving abroad to vote in Knesset elections.
The elections in the embassies take place about two weeks before the polls open in Israel and the ballots cast abroad arrive in Israel by Election Day.
The voting slips from abroad are counted together with the "double envelope" ballots cast by IDF soldiers, police officers and people in hospital, called so because of the two envelopes used to protect the secrecy of the vote.
Jonathan Peled, who currently serves as Israel's acting ambassador to Australia, this election creates a unique record: Over the most recent four elections, he will have voted in four countries on three different continents.
During the elections for the 21st Knesset, in April 2019, Peled cast his vote in Mexico City during his time as ambassador to Mexico.
In the 22nd Knesset elections, in September 2019, Peled voted in Israel, and in the March 23, 2020 elections, he cast his vote in Miami, where he was serving as acting consul general for Florida.
Peled started his career at the Foreign Ministry about 30 years ago, during which time he has voted in a myriad of countries, including Turkey, Argentina, El Salvador and the U.S.
The current election campaign is the seventh in which he has voted abroad.
"My [New Zealand] team thinks that in Israel we always vote three times a year, and my children are sure that I fly abroad especially to vote," said Peled.
"I hope to reassure my staff and my children that the next time I vote will be in four years time and this time in my homeland."