Likud Denies Claims of Directed Voting Video Recordings in State Comptroller Election

The Likud party submitted a response to the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejecting claims made by Knesset member Sharren Haskel. Haskel alleged that during the vote for the State Comptroller, faction members were instructed to record their votes on video and present the footage to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as proof. Likud's response stated they have denied these allegations and noted that Haskel did not specify who gave such an order.

Haskel, who resigned from the government over the law freezing arrests of illegal Arab residents, is currently engaged in a legal battle to split from the National Right faction. She aims to secure party funding and strengthen her position for future coalition negotiations. Since she lacks the required third of faction members to split under the law, she argues that the provision allowing faction splits is substantive and protects a Knesset member's freedom when the faction changes its identity or political affiliation. In her affidavit to the court, she cited the demand to show Netanyahu video evidence of votes in the State Comptroller election as proof of the faction's identity change.

The Supreme Court had already invalidated the initial vote for the State Comptroller, Michael Regev, who is Netanyahu's personal attorney, citing serious flaws in the voting secrecy. Vice President of the Supreme Court Noam Sohlberg wrote that the second round of voting had a significant defect regarding ballot secrecy. The court ordered a new vote between Regev and former Supreme Court judge Yosef Elron.

The controversy began when Likud faction manager Aliza Brachi instructed Knesset members to photograph their ballots behind the voting curtain, violating procedures. Netanyahu summoned faction members to identify those who did not vote for Regev. This led to demands and orders to redo the vote, calls within Likud to defy the court ruling, and a legal advisor's clarification that the ruling must be obeyed and the vote repeated.

Haskel resigned as Deputy Foreign Minister days before the Knesset was dissolved, condemning the government's policies. Likud continues to reject her claims regarding the voting instructions, emphasizing the lack of evidence about who allegedly issued the directive to record votes.