Israel’s Central Elections Committee (CEC), on Wednesday (September 23, 2026), voted to bar the country’s main Arab parties from contesting next month’s elections to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. There have been a series of attempts for decades to disqualify Arab parties from contesting elections, and the latest move comes at a time when these parties have a chance to play a crucial role in the upcoming government.
Reason for the ban
Recent polls by media outlets have suggested that neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition nor the Zionist opposition bloc will be able to secure the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority in the 120-member Knesset, and projected that the Arab parties could win up to 12 seats. The CEC, responding to petitions filed by Likud and Jewish Power parties as well as the Choose Life Forum, a non-government organisation, voted 18-5 with one abstention to disqualify the Ra’am party led by M.K. As per information published by Adalah on its site, the CEC has filed disqualification motions against Arab political parties and candidates in every election cycle for the past 20+ years. For instance, the CEC voted to disqualify the Balad party and its key founder Azmi Bishara from contesting the 2003 elections. In the 2013 elections, there was an attempt to bar Balad, Ra’am-Ta’al and Arab List candidate M.K. In the 2020 election, motions were filed to disqualify Joint List’s Heba Yazbak and in 2022, it voted to disqualify the Balad party. These processes are valid under the existing Knesset Elections Law as per which any political party or any citizen aged 18 years and over or the attorney general can file a disqualification motion to the Knesset’s Central Elections Committee (CEC) requesting the barring of a political party or an individual from contesting elections. The motion is approved if it receives a majority approval of 51% from CEC members.
The CEC’s move to disqualify the Ra’am party and the Joint List (an alliance of Arab parties Balad, Hadash and Ta’al) comes at this juncture. The panel has also voted to disqualify Joint List individual candidate Ofer Cassif and Balad leader Sami Abu Shehadeh. However, the panel’s decision is not final. It requires the approval of the Supreme Court of Justice for disqualifying individual candidates, and the disqualified political party has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court. Mansour Abbas on grounds of supporting the armed struggle of a terrorist organisation/enemy state, inciting racism and rejecting Israel’s existence. However, as per Adalah, the legal centre for Arab rights in Israel, no supporting evidence was presented. The attempt is, however, not new. But the Supreme Court has cancelled the CEC’s decision and reinstated candidacy in each of these instances. Zoabi. Less than two years later, the CEC approved the disqualification of Mr.
This time the disqualifications, if upheld, could have electoral implications beyond Arab representation. With neither of the present ruling and the opposition blocs showing any inclination to include Arab parties in the future government and polls predicting no clear winner, the move constrains the chances of the Arab parties to be part of the ruling coalition.
