New Hope MK Sharren Haskel told the High Court of Justice on Thursday that Knesset members from her party were instructed to video themselves voting for the Likud’s state comptroller candidate, Michael Rabello, in the controversial election held in the Knesset at the beginning of June.

In an affidavit to the High Court, Haskel said MKs were also instructed to show the video of their vote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had insisted that Rabello, his longtime lawyer and adviser, be the coalition’s candidate.

Haskel did not say who issued those instructions. Nonetheless, her testimony contradicted previous affidavits filed at the court by Likud executive director David Sharan and several Likud MKs, who said there had been no instructions from Likud officials for coalition MKs to record their votes.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel watchdog group called for the attorney general to open a perjury investigation in light of the apparently contradictory testimonies.

Rabello was elected to the watchdog role by the Knesset on June 3, after Netanyahu backed him against former Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron.

The High Court has ruled that a new election must be held because six coalition MKs recorded their votes in what was required to be a secret ballot, regardless of whether they were instructed to do so.

Rabello lost the first round of the June 3 voting to Elron 60-57. A second round of voting then began, since a........

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