An Israeli public relations firm, revealed as the masterminds behind 1,200 hidden cameras planted in Arab polling stations, has boasted of its contribution to the minority group’s “lowest turnout in recent years”.

On election day Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party confirmed that it had hired thousands of polling station observers, armed with the cameras, in a bid to expose voter fraud.

But Israeli PR firm Kaizler Inbar suggested its purpose was to drag town turnout among Israeli Arabs, claiming responsibility for the stunt in a Facebook post that was accompanied by a photograph of two company representatives with Mr Netanyahu and his wife, Sara.

The post read: “Have you seen the articles in the media that set the field on election day? Those who told about cameras that were installed in the polls in the Arab sector… Yes, we are ‘guilty’ of this.

“After a long preparation period, an amazing logistical array and a deep and close partnership with people in Likud, we picked up an operation that had a crucial contribution to one of the most important achievements of the right-wing bloc.

“The voting percentage has dropped below 50 per cent, the lowest in recent years. This is the place to say a huge thank you to the 1,350 people of the field.”

Hadash-Ta’al, one of the Arab-majority slates standing in the election, reported to Haaretz that "as soon as the cameras were discovered, there were riots and confrontations, halting the voting process at some stations."

A spokesman for the political alliance said: “The situation caused fear among many voters, who were afraid to get to the polling sites — which was the intention of Likud and the camera operators.”

Israel’s Arab minority represents roughly 20 per cent of the overall population. According to Israeli media reports, the Arab turnout in Tuesday election was one of the lowest in the country’s history.

Following the discovery of the cameras, Israel’s Central Elections Committee issued an order prohibiting filming voters inside polling stations without evidence to support concern over actual electoral fraud.