Supreme Court Signals Fresh Vote on State Comptroller Election

Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, signaled on Wednesday that it may issue an interim order over alleged breaches of secrecy in the Knesset’s vote for state comptroller. Deputy President Justice Noam Sohlberg told the state and the Knesset that the panel sees a problem with the way the ballot was conducted, while not addressing the separate claim of a conflict of interest.

Sohlberg said the justices intend to issue a show-cause order focused on the secrecy issue. He said lawmakers acted against the Knesset legal adviser’s instructions and effectively created a new rule allowing filming. “There is an unwanted cloud,” he said, adding that some of the votes were problematic.

Instead of directly overturning the parliamentary decision, the court proposed a procedural remedy. Sohlberg urged the Knesset to hold the election again, saying, “Do it again, in a clean and proper process. Whatever you decide is fine, just in a clean and proper process. We thought this was the place to suggest that.”

The justices gave the parties until Sunday to respond to the proposal. The hearing was part of petitions challenging the legality of the appointment of the state comptroller.