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Election Day Passes Quietly in Israel; Final Result Not Expected Before End of Week

January 26, 1949
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In brilliant sunshine and in a quiet holiday atmosphere, Jews and Arabs throughout Israel cast their votes today in the first national election since the establishment of the Jewish state.

Final result of the lections will not be known before the end of the week because of the complicated procedure for voting established for members of the armed forces However, the first results, particularly from small settlements, are expected to be known late tonight.

Long queues of voters lined up from the early morning hours before the thou-sands of polling stations throughout the country. Order at the polls was maintained in Tel Aviv by civilian guards. Neither police nor military units were near the voting stations.

Premier David Ben Gurion and his wife were among the early voters at a station in northern Tel Aviv. President Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who has been confined to bed for a week, voted at Rehovoth. Foreign Minister Moshe Shertok was unable to vote he was abroad on the day when the registration census was taken.

In Arab-populated areas, separate lines were formed in front of the polling stations by Arab women. This vas the first time in the life of the Arab women that they have been permitted to cast their ballots. For many Arab men, it was also the first time that they were participating in elections. All parties, including the Arab parties, had been enabled to deliver election broadcasts on the official Kol Israel radio.

Orthodox voters recited “Shehecheyonu” when they cast their ballots in the first electing of the Jewish state. By noon more than forty percent of the elector-ate, including many Arabs, had voted. In Jaffa, Arab propagandists appealed to the Arabs to cast their ballots for the Sternist ticket which lists the Arab leader Abu Gosh as a candidate for the Israeli National Assembly. A large group of Druzes were among the voters in villages near Haifa.

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