Three New Parties Projected to Miss Knesset Threshold in Israel Election Exit Polls

Three newcomer parties that had been polling close to Israel's electoral threshold were projected to miss out on seats in the Knesset, according to exit polls released by Channels 11, 12 and 13 on Tuesday night.

The parties are People of Israel, led by former IDF Brig.-Gen. Ofer Winter; the Reservists-Economic Party, headed by former communications minister Yoaz Hendel and economist Yaron Zelekha; and Haredi Public, led by Moti Leitner. According to the projections, none of them reached the 3.25% needed to enter parliament.

People of Israel ran on a right-wing security platform. It called for tougher action against Hamas while also backing greater participation by ultra-Orthodox Israelis in military service.

Winter described his party as part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc. Even so, he challenged the prime minister on a number of issues during the campaign and repeatedly urged that new faces be brought into the Knesset.

The Reservists-Economic Party built its campaign around widening military service to include more ultra-Orthodox Israelis and tackling the country's economic difficulties. Hendel declined to commit to either political bloc. He instead called for a broad Zionist government to be formed after the vote.

Haredi Public presented itself as an alternative to the established ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism. Its focus was on representing the Haredi public.

The failure of these parties to clear the threshold could have consequences for how seats are divided among the parties that do qualify. Votes cast for lists that fall below the threshold are left out of the seat allocation.

The exit polls are preliminary projections only. The final result will depend on the official vote count and the allocation of Knesset seats. This is a developing story.