Likud official lauds resignation as 'important victory'

Veteran election czar Orly Adas resigns, throwing committee into turmoil

Supreme Court deputy says he attempted to persuade Central Elections Committee director to remain, as report suggests she resigned following dispute over whether to extend her term

Orly Adas, the director-general of the Central Elections Committee, announced her resignation on Thursday after more than 15 years in the position, rebuffing efforts by Supreme Court Deputy Noam Sohlberg, the chairman of the committee, to have her remain in the position.

Her resignation months before a national election — to be held no later than October 2026 — comes amid heightened tensions between the CEC and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, which is unhappy with recent additions to the body tasked with overseeing the voting process.

In a statement confirming that Adas would end her tenure in July, Sohlberg praised her professionalism and determination to ensure the smooth running of elections, noting his attempt to dissuade her from stepping down.

“Attorney Adas did not respond to my pleas to continue in her position until after the election,” said Sohlberg, a conservative judge often perceived by the government as more sympathetic to its causes. “I regret this, but I respect her decision, and wish to express my full appreciation and gratitude for her work over the years.”

Adas was appointed to head the committee in 2010 and led it through seven national elections — five of which were held between 2019 and 2022.

The committee is an independent state body responsible for managing parliamentary elections and protecting their integrity. It is chaired by a Supreme Court justice, currently Sohlberg, and comprises representatives of the various factions in the Knesset. It is responsible for tallying votes and has the power to disqualify parties ahead of elections.

A senior Likud official quoted by the Ynet news outlet on Thursday welcomed Adas’s resignation, describing it as an “important victory.”

“We didn’t trust her,” the official added of Adas.

According to Ynet, Adas had been threatening to resign from the committee since at least September, after Sohlberg approached her to discuss limiting her term to end in 2027, a year after the upcoming election.

But Sohlberg eventually backtracked, Ynet reported, and agreed with Adas to extend her tenure for two additional elections to avoid harming public trust in the electoral process. According to the outlet, his about-face was the result of talks with President Isaac Herzog.

According to Ynet, Sohlberg’s decision to extend Adas’s term and Herzog’s involvement in that decision sparked irritation from both the Likud and the Prime Minister’s Office.

Attorney Ilan Bombach, representing both Netanyahu and the Likud party, sent two letters to Sohlberg on the matter, days apart.

In one, the outlet said, Bombach demanded to know the reasons that led Sohlberg to extend Adas’s term rather than ending it in 2027, while the second letter demanded to know who else, besides Herzog, had been involved in efforts to keep her on for longer.

It was unclear from the reports why Adas decided to resign even after Sohlberg agreed to extend her term.

MK Karine Elharar, who sits on the election committee on behalf of Yesh Atid, blamed the pro-Netanyahu “poison machine” for Adas’s decision to resign.

“The poison machine at the ruling party’s disposal is working overtime to delegitimize the Central Elections Committee,” she said Thursday, adding that to her, there was “no doubt” that this played a role in Adas’s choice to step down.

MK Eitan Ginzburg, a member of the committee on behalf of Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party, lamented that Adas was resigning at a “critical moment” for the committee, and stressed that “public trust in the committee must be high.”

Across the aisle, however, politicians disputed the claim that Adas’s resignation was the reason for declining trust among the public.

“The extension of Adas’s term by Justice Sohlberg, contrary to the recommendations of the State Comptroller, with President Herzog’s unusual involvement, is what is damaging the public’s trust in the integrity of the elections,” asserted Likud MK Avichay Buaron. “If you don’t want Israeli society to fall apart, don’t interfere in the elections!”

Tensions between Likud and the Central Elections Committee initially ramped up in March, when the committee unanimously selected attorney Yifat Siminovski to serve as its new legal adviser.

Her appointment was immediately contested by the Prime Minister’s Office, which attempted to claim that it was invalid due to an alleged procedural flaw.

Bombach argued at the time on behalf of Likud and Netanyahu that Siminovski’s appointment must be halted because it had not been launched in consultation with the civil service commissioner, creating a legal “defect that goes to the root” of the process.

Sohlberg rejected Bombach’s argument, saying there was “no basis for what was claimed and requested.”

Days later, Bombach sent a follow-up letter questioning whether Siminovski’s background in cyber and technology qualified her for the role of legal adviser, despite the committee emphasizing that it was exactly this background that made her uniquely qualified for the position in the era of artificial intelligence and the threat of AI influence on the upcoming election.

In recent years, Netanyahu and his party have made efforts to gain greater control over both government legal advisers and the electoral system. In March 2023, Likud MK Eliyahu Revivo filed, and quickly withdrew, a bill to allow the Knesset speaker to appoint the committee chairman.

The coalition also advanced a bill making it easier to disqualify Arab lawmakers and a measure preventing the Supreme Court from overturning Central Elections Committee rulings disqualifying parties.