Israel's High Court of Justice will hear petitions on Thursday seeking to invalidate the election of attorney Michael Ravilo as state comptroller. The petitioners argue that lawmakers were pressured to document their votes, even though the ballot was supposed to be secret, and that Ravilo should be disqualified because he has long served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's personal lawyer.
The petitions were filed by Yesh Atid, the Fortress of Democracy movement, and the Movement for Quality Government. They claim the selection process "trampled" the secrecy requirement in the State Comptroller Basic Law. Ravilo responded that under Israeli law and the conflict-of-interest arrangement that can be imposed, he is qualified to serve objectively and professionally even if he previously had ties to the officials who chose him.
Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik defended the vote in her response to the court, saying there is no evidence that MKs were instructed to record their ballots. She added that even though the law does not explicitly forbid photographing a vote, the court should not accept claims that the ballot was improper. Ravilo also said Israeli law allows people with integrity to perform the job despite prior connections, because the Basic Law and the State Comptroller Law protect the office's independence.
The losing candidate, retired Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron, submitted a brief position to the court asking it to intervene and cancel the vote that elected Ravilo. He joined the petitioners in challenging the legality of the second ballot and asked for interim relief to freeze Ravilo's entry into office.
The hearing will be broadcast live, and the justices are expected to consider two central issues, whether there is proof of a directive to film the vote and whether Ravilo's close ties to Netanyahu make his appointment unreasonable. Ravilo was elected about a week and a half ago in secret ballots in the Knesset. In the first round Elron led 60 to 57, but neither candidate reached the required 61 votes. In the second round Ravilo won 61 votes to Elron's 57. During that round, opposition lawmakers said Likud MKs were told to take a "selfie" with their ballot behind the curtain to prove loyalty, though lawmakers such as Shlomo Karhi and Hanoch Milwidsky later said they posted their own photos voluntarily.
