developing· Politics· Updated
Small Parties Fail to Cross Election Threshold, Wasting Thousands of Votes
Several smaller political parties failed to cross the 3.25% electoral threshold in the 2026 elections for the 26th Knesset. High voter turnout reportedly squeezed out these smaller factions, preventing them from gaining representation in parliament and resulting in tens of thousands of wasted votes.
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What happened
- 01Several small political parties failed to cross the 3.25% electoral threshold in the 2026 elections for the 26th Knesset.
- 02The joint list of Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelicha failed to enter the Knesset, receiving 57,666 votes according to Srugim.
- 03Ofer Winter's Amcha Israel party fell short of the threshold, garnering 37,472 votes according to Srugim.
- 04Sources close to Winter blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich for an aggressive campaign that hurt their chances.
- 05Moti Leitner's Haredi Public party and the Noam party also failed to cross the electoral threshold.
- 06The Israel Tichla party, led by Sharan Haskel, finished near the bottom of the results with only 127 votes.
- 07Votes cast for parties below the threshold are void and do not count toward the final distribution of Knesset seats.
Among the parties falling short was the joint list of Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelicha, which received 57,666 votes according to Srugim, or 28,125 votes according to JDN. The Amcha Israel party, led by former IDF General Ofer Winter with Yosef Haddad as his second-in-command, also failed to enter the Knesset, garnering 37,472 votes according to Srugim, or 17,442 votes according to JDN.
Sources close to Winter blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich for an aggressive campaign against them, which they claim backfired by boosting Arab voter turnout and costing the pro-Netanyahu bloc valuable mandates. Other parties that failed to cross the threshold included Moti Leitner's Haredi Public party, Noam, Tzeva Shachor, and Israel Tichla led by Sharan Haskel.
Summarized by baba from the reports of 3 newsrooms. Updated
Latest report: JDN. Read JDN’s originalThe coverage
3 newsrooms on this story
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- LeftNone
- Centre1
- Right1
- Haredi1
- ArabNone
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Small Parties Fail to Cross Election Threshold, Wasting Thousands of Votes
