The High Court of Justice froze the Knesset vote on appointing a state comptroller, accepting a petition against the secret-ballot procedure. Coalition MK Mati Tuchfeld (Channel 14) said in a live broadcast that no evidence was presented that a directive to violate ballot secrecy had been issued, calling the ruling 'lunatic' and warning it raises doubts about future Knesset elections.
At 12:20 on Wednesday July 1, the High Court of Justice escalated its intervention in the state comptroller appointment, issuing an interim order freezing the appointment of attorney Michael Ravilo — a step up from Monday's conditional order. By the same hour, a second order blocked the Knesset plenum vote that the coalition had scheduled for later this week.
Within an hour, coalition MK Mati Tuchfeld, head of Channel 14's political desk, reacted in a live broadcast. 'Not a single piece of evidence was presented that there was a directive to violate the secrecy of the vote,' he said. Tuchfeld called the ruling 'lunatic' and warned: 'If this is what they do in secret-ballot elections for state comptroller, what will happen when they don't like the results of Knesset elections?' The first thread report on the freeze, at 12:20, named the candidate as Shmuel Rabelo; two subsequent versions, also at 12:20, corrected the name to Michael Ravilo and added legal commentator Michael Shemesh's assessment that justices lean toward invalidating the second Knesset vote that elected Ravilo.
As The Zioneer reported at 12:50 Wednesday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attacked the court's intervention earlier that day, accusing Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and her allies of crossing red lines. On Monday June 22, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana told closed-door meetings he was leaning against holding a new vote pending the court's final ruling. On Thursday June 18, opposition leader Yair Golan said the court had blocked the coalition's attempt to cancel the secret ballot 'in order to appoint a Netanyahu loyalist as state comptroller.'
The court has not yet issued a final ruling. The Knesset is expected to respond formally in the coming days, and the question of whether a new vote can or should be held remains unresolved.
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