Jerusalem  - Israel's Supreme Court overturned Wednesday a decision by the country's Central Elections Committee (CEC) banning two Arab-Israeli parties from competing in next months Knesset elections.

The nine-judge panel accepted the appeal filed on behalf of the United Arab List (UAL) and by the Balad party against the CEC ruling earlier this month, which had claimed that since the two parties did not recognise Israel as a Jewish homeland, they could not run in the February 10 elections.

The court unanimously voted Wednesday to overturn the decision to ban the UAL, while eight of the nine judges supported allowing Balad to run.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who was asked to prepare a brief on the matter for the court, said Monday that he saw no grounds to prevent the two parties from taking part in the elections and that the decision to disqualify them had been based on "flimsy evidence."

The requests the CEC to disqualify the UAL and Balad had been submitted by two ultra-nationalist Jewish parties, Yisrael Beiteinu and the National Union-National Religious Party.

The appeal against the decision was filed by the Adalah Arab- Israeli rights group, which argued that the decision to prevent them from taking part in the election was a violation of their rights.

Prior to previous elections, the Supreme Court has also overturned decisions to disqualify Balad based on similar claims to the ones lodged this year. (dpa)