SA’s mock Israeli election open to all

ANT KATZ

The Israeli Embassy in South Africa is holding a mock election campaign and wants as many South African citizens as possible to take part in it. Sound crazy? “Not at all,” says the embassy’s deputy head of mission, Michael Freeman.

In a unique initiative, the embassy in SA has created a WEBSITE which went live today. They are also going on a nation-wide publicity campaign to promote the novel venture which encourages the general population of the country to cast a vote – but in reality this is a mock election.

RIGHT: A sample page from the new website

“We are holding a nation-wide poll which will track how South Africans feel about the upcoming Israeli elections,” explains Freeman. The website to vote on is: www.israeldemocracy.co.za

The site was designed and built in SA, and gives each party’s platform for the Israeli election later this month. This will expose South Africans to the political playing field in Israel and explain how Israel’s electoral system works.

“We are hoping to get everyone in South Africa voting,” Freeman told Jewish Report. To help encourage people to vote, the embassy will be giving away thousands of rand worth of prizes – from an iPad to Israeli wines and Israeli tech items. Winners will be drawn randomly.

An individual is only allowed to vote once and the mock election will close on Monday 16 March – a day before the real election. The SA mock election results will be published on the Monday evening on Jewish Report Online.

Why go to all this trouble? “The underlying purpose of the exercise is to demonstrate and highlight the vibrant democracy of Israel,” said Freeman.

Christian, Muslim, Bedouin, Druze and other minority citizens enjoy all the same freedoms and rights as any other Israeli citizen, he says, and Arab political parties participate fully in Israel’s democracy. Twelve members of the outgoing Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) are of Arabic decent.

To demonstrate how democratic Israel is, says Freeman, “we are going to be publicising this through as many media formats that we can,” with the objective of “allowing people to learn and understand more about the democratic system in Israel.”

The website also offers information about the demographic breakdown of Israel’s population, facts about Israel as a democracy and the role of Arabs and other minorities, including women, within the democratic process.

While the embassy is interested in how SA Jewry would vote, says Freeman, the initiative is largely targeted at the non-Jewish demographic – folks who don’t know about Israel.

And what if the majority of votes cast in SA are for Arab parties? Jewish Report asked Freeman. Completely unfazed, he replies that this would be perfect. “It will prove how democratic we really are,” was his reply.