MK Sharren Haskel Denies Linking Likud to State Comptroller Election Controversy

MK Sharren Haskel testified at the Lahav 433 police unit investigation concerning the selection process of the State Comptroller. According to police sources, her testimony was brief, general, and lacked detailed evidence. Haskel reportedly identified MK Michel Buskila from the New Hope party, not members of Likud, as the person who allegedly pressured her to record her vote during the comptroller election.

Haskel's testimony failed to establish a connection between the claims of mandatory video documentation of votes for the comptroller candidate Michael Regev and the Likud party or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This comes after Haskel submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court alleging that New Hope members were required to support the Likud candidate and to record their votes on video to prove their support to Netanyahu. These allegations sparked controversy as they contradicted previous affidavits by Likud officials, including party CEO David Sharon and Likud MKs, who denied any directive to film the voting.

Following these claims, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel called for an investigation into possible false statements made to the court. The election for State Comptroller took place in the Knesset on June 3, with Regev winning 61 votes against 57 for retired Supreme Court Justice Yosef Elron after a second round. However, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that video documentation of the vote compromised the secrecy of the process, invalidated the results, and ordered a new vote due to the potential impact of this breach on the election outcome.