200,000 votes cast for small parties - not counted

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Of the 3 million votes that were cast for the 17th Knesset on Tuesday, 200,000 were not counted, as they were either disqualified, or supported some of the smaller parties that did not pass the minimum threshold required to achieve Knesset representation. Army Radio reported that the Shinui and Hetz parties would have had to increase their combined power five-fold in order to make it into the Knesset. The two parties had won 15 mandates in the 2003 elections when running on a combined list.