For weeks, much was made of the opposition bloc's successful efforts to consolidate its forces, while predictions suggested that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing and religious allies could lose several Knesset seats because of votes cast for small parties that would fail to cross the electoral threshold. The final results, however, tell a different story: The right-wing parties that failed to enter parliament received fewer votes combined than a single centrist party that might have joined Netanyahu's opponents.
A total of 306,172 votes were cast for parties that failed to cross Israel's 3.25% electoral threshold, leaving them without representation in the 120-seat Knesset. Another 25,983 ballots were declared invalid, including a handful cast for Benny Gantz's Blue and White party and the Achi movement associated with Rabbi Abergil, both of which withdrew from the race during the final week.
Moti Leitner, leader of The Haredi Public party, received just over 10,000 votes
Although the number of votes that failed to translate into parliamentary seats was substantial, it was considerably lower than in the 2022 election. That year, Meretz and Balad failed to cross the threshold, leaving more than 417,000 votes effectively wasted and helping Netanyahu's right-wing and religious bloc secure 64 seats.
Of all the parties that failed to enter parliament this time, the joint Reservists-Economic Party, led by Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha, came closest to the 3.25% threshold. It received 154,950 votes, or 2.72% of the total, falling approximately 30,000 votes short of securing representation.
The party performed better among special double-envelope ballots, which include votes cast by IDF soldiers, winning 3.87% of those votes. But even that stronger showing was not enough to push it over the threshold.
Among individual cities, Be'er Ya'akov emerged as Hendel and Zelekha's strongest base, with 5.5% of the vote. The party received 4.8% in Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, 4.6% in both Kfar Yona and Rishon LeZion, and 4.4% in Hadera.
The second party whose hopes of entering the Knesset were dashed was Amcha Yisrael, led by former IDF general Ofer Winter. Like Hendel's party, it received more than 4% of the vote in Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, where it won 4.1%.
Winter performed particularly well in Givat Shmuel, a stronghold of liberal religious Zionism, where 7.4% of voters backed his party. Apart from those two cities, the only other municipality where Amcha Yisrael exceeded the national electoral threshold was Yeruham, with 3.9%. The party also received 2.5% in both Petah Tikva and Yokneam Illit.
Following an aggressive campaign by Netanyahu against Winter, Amcha Yisrael finished with just 95,663 votes, representing 1.68% of the total, roughly half the support needed to enter the Knesset.
Two smaller ultra-Orthodox parties representing opposing positions on military conscription finished much further below the electoral threshold.
The Haredi Public, led by Moti Leitner, campaigned on addressing military enlistment issues and strengthening Israel's state-run ultra-Orthodox education system. At the opposite end of the spectrum was Black Color, a party strongly opposed to drafting Haredi men into the military and supportive of confrontational protests, including road blockades.
Neither managed to attract significant electoral support. Each received slightly more than 10,000 votes, representing approximately 0.2% of the total.
Eitan Shvili, known as 'Sharshar,' and Prof. Dan Ariely of the Pirate Party. Both outpolled Sharren Haskel
(Photo: Shalev Shalom)
Sharren Haskel. Her Israel First party received just 955 votes
(Photo: Shalev Shalom)
The far-right, anti-LGBTQ Noam party, led by Avi Maoz, who served as a deputy minister in the outgoing government, performed even worse, receiving just 9,923 votes.
Together, Amcha Yisrael, Black Color, The Haredi Public and Noam received approximately 125,000 votes, considerably fewer than the 154,950 won by Hendel and Zelekha's party, which also drew support from voters associated with the opposition's so-called change bloc.
At the bottom of the electoral results were several smaller parties whose performances were even more striking. Among them was Israel First, led by outgoing deputy minister Sharren Haskel, which received just 955 votes nationwide.
Several fringe parties managed to outperform her, including Sharshar for Love and Unity of the People, led by Eitan Shvili, who styles himself as a king and arrived at the Central Elections Committee wearing a crown when registering his party.
Shvili, known as "Sharshar," attracted 2,084 votes under the Hebrew ballot designation "Tzedek," meaning "justice," more than twice Haskel's total.
Even Israel's Pirate Party, which included prominent behavioral economist Prof. Dan Ariely in third place on its candidate list, finished ahead of the former deputy minister. The party, officially registered as The Pirates, Floating for Good, received 1,051 votes under the Hebrew ballot letters "Tzaf."
The final tally left Haskel behind both the self-proclaimed king and the pirates, underscoring how even candidates with experience in government struggled to attract support in an election dominated by the larger political parties.