In a secret vote, the Knesset on Monday elected Matanyahu Englman, director of the Council of Higher Education, as the new State Comptroller in place of Justice (ret.) Joseph Shapira, who completed his seven-year term. Englman received 67 votes, while Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Romm, chairman of the National Road Safety Authority and former director of the Civil Aviation Authority, received 48 votes. Five empty ballots were cast.

Following the vote, Englman received his credentials from the Ballot Committee in the office of Speaker of the Knesset MK Yuli-Yoel Edelstein (Likud).

Speaker Edelstein congratulated Englman and told him “you will visit the Speaker's Office many times in the coming years in order to submit reports on various issues, and you will work with the Knesset's State Control Committee."

“As State Comptroller, who will serve as a sort of physician of Israeli society," Speaker Edelstein continued. “You will touch the most painful points of society, and I hope that these touches, like a doctor's, will be beneficial and healing, and that they will be able to help us all get rid of the diseases and pains of society. I am certain that with your impressive record, you will perform this job with excellence. As much as it may sound like a cliché, your success is the success of the entire State of Israel."

State Comptroller-elect Englman said, “This is a great honor for me and for my family. The institution of the State Comptroller is one of Israel's foundation stones, and I am assuming the position with humility and a sense that I am on a national mission, with the good of the country and its citizens in mind. I wish to thank the prime minister for his trust and support every step of the way. I thank the members of Knesset for supporting my candidacy."   

The incoming State Comptroller will pledge his allegiance on July 4.