HOSPITALIZED MENTALLY-ILL PATIENTS IN ISRAEL VOTE FOR THE FIRST TIME

For the first time in Israel, hospitalized mentally ill patients were enabled to participate in the election of the prime minister and membe rs of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) held on May 29, 1996. In a demo nstration election held in Yehuda Abarbanel Hospital to teach and prep are the patients to vote, the outcome of the vote for the prime minist er was identical to the results of the general public vote. The sample vote results for members of the Knesset were slightly different from those in the actual election. The character of the voting in this samp le bolsters arguments for the rights of mentally ill individuals to pa rticipate in the basic democratic process of voting and should ease an y misgivings felt by some of the public about their ability to vote as rationally as other members of the public.