Together slate petitions High Court to overturn state comptroller election over tainted vote

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s joint Together slate files a petition to the High Court of Justice to overturn last week’s election of incoming state comptroller Michael Rabello, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer, arguing that the voting process was unlawfully compromised.

During the second round of voting, required because neither candidate won 61 votes in the first round, Likud MKs were reportedly instructed by party officials to photograph or film their ballots to prove they had voted for Rabello. The vote was halted and restarted following an uproar over the alleged violations, but some Likud MKs continued documenting themselves. Rabello ultimately won 61-57, after several coalition MKs had apparently switched their vote.

The petition argues that the vote was “fundamentally tainted by corruption” and that lawmakers were subjected to “heavy pressure” to document their votes to “prove their loyalty to the prime minister.”

It further argues that Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana’s decision to halt voting for roughly 45 minutes allowed Netanyahu to exert additional pressure on lawmakers, and that Ohana’s subsequent decision to allow the use of cellphones in the plenum, contrary to the advice of the Knesset legal adviser, enabled the violation.

The petition also argues that Netanyahu had a severe conflict of interest in securing the election of his longtime personal lawyer to oversee a body responsible for scrutinizing government conduct, including the failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre.

Incidentally, Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik rejected Yesh Atid’s call last week to invalidate the vote, saying Ohana’s decision to allow phones was lawful despite deviating from her recommendation.

A separate petition seeking to overturn the election was also filed last week by the Movement for Quality Government.