High Court Orders State to Explain the Appointment of Michael Ravilo as State Comptroller

An expanded panel of the High Court of Justice on Sunday issued a conditional order requiring the Knesset, the Knesset Speaker and the government to explain why the election of attorney Michael Ravilo as state comptroller should not be annulled. The panel, led by Deputy President Noam Sohlberg and joined by Justices Gila Canfy-Steinitz and Ruth Ronen, sent the case to a five-judge panel next week.

The petitioners, opposition factions, lawmakers, the Israel Bar Association and civil society groups, argue that the vote was tainted by serious procedural defects that undermined the secrecy of the ballot and the freedom of Knesset members to decide independently. Their main claim is that some lawmakers displayed their ballots to others before placing them in the box, in order to prove how they voted, which they say violated the secrecy requirement in the Basic Law: State Comptroller and opened the door to political and factional pressure.

Earlier on Sunday, the Knesset told the court it rejected the judges’ suggestion to hold a repeat vote for Ravilo’s appointment. In a statement from Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, the legislature said that after reviewing the matter it had decided not to conduct a new election and stood behind the process that led to Ravilo’s selection.

During the hearing, the judges raised questions about the secrecy of the vote after Likud lawmakers were seen with ballots behind the voting booth curtain. At the same time, they signaled they were not leaning at this stage toward intervening on the separate conflict-of-interest claim, which concerns Ravilo’s role as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer. The court had earlier proposed a revote and asked the Knesset to respond, but the Knesset said, in Ohana’s words, that “the Knesset has had its say.”