Court blasts Knesset Speaker Ohana for blocking comptroller vote but doesn’t intervene

The High Court of Justice lambasted Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Tuesday for undermining democratic governance and harming both the rule of law and the public interest, over his refusal to hold a new election for the position of state comptroller, despite a court order in July instructing him to do so “as quickly as possible.”

But the court rejected a petition asking it to order Ohana to hold a new election because it was filed too close to last week’s general election, and ordering him to hold the vote is no longer practical, as the new Knesset is due to be sworn in next week.

The court also noted that precedent has determined that a Knesset in the final days of its recess before being replaced, as the 25th Knesset currently is, should not make substantive decisions.

The need for a new state comptroller election arose after the High Court ruled in July that the first round of voting in the Knesset in which Michael Rabello was elected state comptroller was invalid, as a number of coalition lawmakers violated the requirement for a secret ballot by filming and photographing themselves voting for him.

As such, the court ruled that a repeat of the marred second round of voting should be held “as quickly as possible.”

Ohana refused to call a new vote, however, stating publicly in August that he was proud to have defied the court by refusing to set a date to repeat the ballot, prompting the petition to the High Court asking it to order the Knesset speaker to set a date for the election.

“The duty to obey and respect court rulings is a fundamental condition of a democratic regime that operates according to the principle of the rule of law,” wrote Justice Ruth Ronen in response to the petition.

“This duty rests on the public as a whole, and all the more so on the governing authorities, which are not above the law,” she continued.

“Dismissing the petition does not constitute approval of the Knesset speaker’s grave conduct,” she clarified. “The severe harm that this conduct causes to the public interest to protect the rule of law, particularly when it is committed by a governmental official, cannot be accepted,” Ronen said, noting that Ohana’s conduct also damaged “the standing of both the Knesset and the court.”

In light of Ohana’s defiance of the court, Ronen awarded costs amounting to NIS 10,000 ($3,160) against the speaker and the Knesset.

As a result of Ohana’s refusal to hold repeat elections, the position of state comptroller has been vacant since Matanyahu Englman finished his seven-year term in July.

In August, it emerged that 10 government employees who had submitted complaints to the State Comptroller’s Office about alleged corruption in government ministries and agencies since the previous state comptroller left office had been refused protection under whistleblower laws, since there is no serving state comptroller and only the comptroller himself is empowered to grant such protection.

The vacancy in the state comptroller’s office is reportedly being treated as an urgent matter by parties in the bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to Channel 12 on Sunday, the bloc, led by Yashar chair Gadi Eisenkot, intends to quickly call a repeat election for comptroller following the swearing-in of the 26th Knesset next week.