KNESSET VOTING BILL WATERED DOWN

Efforts to water down the expatriate voting bill are proving fruitful. Likud Knesset Member Zeev Elkin predicts the bill will now allow only Israelis outside of Israel for less than a year the right to vote abroad. The possible law raised tensions with Shas, which fought for limiting voting rights to those less than two months outside of the country. The religious parties stand to lose the most ground in the Knesset as a result of the law.