ISRAEL'S VOTING CAMERAS

ISRAELI critics wary of voting cameras........................

JERUSALEM : Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet approved draft legislation on Sunday to have cameras monitor polling stations in Israel's election.

A move opponents said was effectively meant to intimidate Arab voters.

Fighting for political; survival after an inconclusive ballot in April, the right-wing Netanyahu has  made voter fraud a key issue in  his campaign for a fifth term, cautioning that victory could be stolen from him in what what polls show to be a close race.

In the previous election, Netanyahu's Likud party sent monitors equipped with body cameras to several polling stations with Arab constituents in what Arab politicians described as  voter intimidation.

On election days in Israel, representatives of most sit at venues to check pre-vote identification process.

Voters are then handed an envelope and go behind a screen to cast their ballot in private.

Addressing his cabinet on Saturday on Sunday, Netanyahu said that under the Legislation, which will go to the parliament for approval their cellular telephone cameras to record outside of the actual voting booth. [Reuters]