The minimum threshold for a party to enter the 18th Knesset is 2%. That means after adding the number of people who voted, and subtracting disqualifying votes including blank slips and write-ins, the computer will calculate 2%. That means if there are 3 million votes, a party will require 60,000 votes to enter Knesset.

Parties not making the minimum will not enter Knesset and the votes are thrown away. They may not be used in surplus vote agreements if a party fails to pass the minimum threshold.

Until 1992, the minimum was 1%, increased to 1.5% that year, and raised once again to 2% in 2006 by larger parties who were seeking to prevent the continued splintering of their parties into smaller ones.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)