Lawmakers voted 61-57 in the Knesset on Wednesday to elect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer, Michael Rabello, as state comptroller in a controversial do-over vote marred by accusations that illegal pressure tainted the election.

The eventual win came after the second round of voting was halted and rerun amid allegations that Likud lawmakers were pressured and ordered to photograph — and even film — their ballots to prove they had voted for Rabello and not betrayed Netanyahu, despite the law calling for a secret ballot.

Opposition leaders accused Likud of undermining the integrity of the election and announced plans to petition the High Court of Justice to annul the result, arguing that lawmakers had been intimidated to prove how they voted.

The state comptroller, who reports directly to the Knesset, is responsible, among other things, for the external oversight of the activities of government ministries and local government, and the financial affairs of political parties, safeguarding the public interest. The comptroller has also been probing the government’s role in the failures that led up to the October 7, 2023, massacre.

Rabello will replace current State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, who is due to complete his seven-year term this summer.

The office is meant to be independent of the prime minister and the government, making Rabello’s candidacy and now election particularly sensitive given his longstanding ties to Netanyahu and the allegations that coalition lawmakers were pressured to support him.

Rabello has represented Netanyahu in various political negotiations and has acted for both the prime minister and his wife, Sara, in numerous legal proceedings.

Among other cases, he has represented Netanyahu before the High Court of Justice on multiple occasions, including in petitions against the government demanding that a state commission of inquiry be established into the failures surrounding the Hamas-led October invasion and atrocities.

The election, conducted by secret ballot as required by law, descended into chaos after Rabello’s competitor and the opposition’s candidate, retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron, won the first round 60-57, falling just one vote short of the 61 needed for victory, meaning that several coalition lawmakers had defected.

Although nominated by opposition parties, Elron was also seen as popular among some coalition lawmakers. A conservative jurist appointed to the Supreme Court in 2017, he retired in 2024 after unsuccessfully seeking the court’s presidency with the backing of Justice Minister Yariv Levin. Both Supreme Court President Isaac Amit and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara have praised Elron for his contributions to Israeli criminal jurisprudence.

According to Hebrew media reports leading up to the election, coalition lawmakers, including members of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, had also sought to nominate Elron, but the prime minister........

© The Times of Israel