Knesset speaker restarts 2nd state comptroller vote, after Likud MKs were told to photograph their secret ballots, prove they were backing PM’s candidate; opposition slams illegal, mafia-style behavior

By Ariela Karmel

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3 June 2026, 2:22 pm

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Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana votes for the next state comptroller at the plenum of the Knesset, in Jerusalem, June 3, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana announces that the second round of voting for state comptroller will begin again from scratch after the process was halted amid an uproar over reports that Likud lawmakers were instructed to photograph themeselves voting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s preferred candidate, attorney Michael Rabello.

“If there was any instruction from anyone to photograph ballots in the voting booth, it was illegal and invalid. Of course, every voter has the right to choose whether to photograph themselves,” says Ohana, adding that “in order to preserve the integrity of the process and remove any doubt, we will begin the second-round vote again from the start.”

According to a Channel 12 report, MKs were instructed to film the entire voting process, including placing their ballot in the envelope, despite the vote being conducted by secret ballot.

The incident has sparked fierce criticism from opposition lawmakers, who accuse Likud of violating the integrity of the election.

Democrats chairman Yair Golan calls Likud “a crime family” and says it must be fought like one, while Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman accuses Netanyahu of trying to turn the Knesset into “a house of rags,” declaring that “North Korea is here.”

“Once, [Netanyahu] wanted to photograph Arab citizens as they voted in elections. Today he wants to photograph his servants as they vote in the Knesset,” says Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh, referring to past efforts by Likud to place cameras in Arab polling stations.

“I only hope I will get to photograph his final departure from the Prime Minister’s Office, and from there to the dustbin of history,” Odeh adds.

Democrats MK Naama Lazimi calls the directive to photograph ballots “mafia-style and illegal,” describing Likud as “a full-fledged crime organization,” while Yesh Atid MK Moshe Tur-Paz similarly denounces the affair as “the conduct of a crime organization.”

“The criminal and illegal disgrace taking place now in the state comptroller election is only a preview of the next Knesset election,” says Democrats MK and former Labor chair Merav Michaeli.

Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak warns that “if you have any doubt whether Likud will try to undermine the integrity of elections, look at what is happening right now in the plenum with the election of the state comptroller. This is only the introduction.”