The Knesset plenum on Wednesday elected Adv. Michael Rabello as Israel's 10th State Comptroller. In the second round of voting, 61 Knesset members voted for Rabello, while 57 voted for retired judge Yosef Elron.
In the first round of voting, Elron received 60 votes, while Rabello received 57. However, according to the State Comptroller Law, a candidate must receive at least 61 votes to be elected in the first round.
Since neither candidate passed the threshold, no winner was declared. During the first vote, counters found a blank ballot, belonging to MK Yaron Levi (Yesh Atid), which could have been decisive.
At the beginning of the second round of voting, a raucous broke out on the Knesset floor after it was claimed that Likud MKs were instructed to film themselves voting for Rabello in the secret ballot. The Likud strongly denied the accusations.
MK Keti Shitrit filmed herself at the ballot, and some MKs asked that the voting be disqualified and restarted.
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana paused the voting to consult with the legal council, after which it was decided to restart the second round from the beginning.
The vote was held in a secret ballot behind a screen in the Knesset plenum, with a coalition and opposition ballot committee counting the votes, supervised by the Knesset Secretary and the Legal Bureau