MK Sharren Haskel Alleges Pressure to Document Vote for State Comptroller in Supreme Court Affidavit

MK Sharren Haskel submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court stating that members of her faction were pressured to vote for Attorney Michael Regev for the position of State Comptroller and to document their votes. The election took place on June 3, where in the first round, retired Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron received 60 votes, while Regev, backed by Prime Minister Netanyahu, got 57 votes. Since a majority of 61 votes was required, a second round was held. During this round, some Likud MKs, including Hanoch Milwitsky and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, took selfies with their voting slips for Regev, causing an uproar as the vote was meant to be secret, leading to a suspension of the vote. Eventually, a third vote was held, with Regev winning 60 votes.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ordered a re-vote due to procedural flaws in the secret ballot. However, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (Likud) has refused to hold the re-vote. In her affidavit, Haskel claimed that Regev was presented as the candidate whom members of the New Hope faction had to support without reservation or independent opinion. She further stated that during the re-vote, New Hope members were required to record videos of themselves voting and submit this evidence to the Prime Minister as proof of their vote.

Haskel also noted that at the time of the election, New Hope did not have an independent stance on the matter, nor was there any internal discussion to form such a position. The affidavit was part of Haskel's request to split from the National Right faction, which has four MKs. She seeks recognition as a single-member faction to receive independent party funding and election financing. Meanwhile, Haskel resigned as Deputy Foreign Minister and is not expected to run in the upcoming Likud primaries. Likud has dismissed her claims.