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Why Netanyahu wants to lower Knesset entry threshold

After increasing the Knesset entry threshold before the 2015 election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now wants to help potential coalition partners by lowering it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a session of the plenum of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, in Jerusalem, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RC1C0029F120
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For the moment, it is still unclear what will happen with the experimental balloon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu floated Sept. 16 regarding lowering the electoral threshold, which stands at 3.25% of the votes today. “I’m raising the possibility of lowering the electoral threshold by half a percent … but this must be with everyone’s agreement,” Netanyahu said seemingly offhand to his senior partners in the coalition — the leaders of the right-wing parties and the ultra-Orthodox.

In fact, there was nothing innocent or offhand in this statement, which made some of his partners sweat, each for his own personal electoral reasons. They, like Netanyahu, are examining the initiative with an instrumentalist outlook.

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