New Right leader Naftali Bennett blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the party’s poor showing in the Knesset election Tuesday night, saying his last-minute plea to voters through a torrent of interviews was “too successful.”
Netanyahu’s all-out campaign to solidify his hold on the right was motivated by the fear that the center-left bloc Blue and White would get the first chance to form a government if it got more seats than Likud.
According to one exit poll on Tuesday night, the New Right was hovering between life and death, barely crossing the minimum electoral threshold of four seats.
Two other exit polls show the party with zero seats because it was unlikely to win the required 3.25 percent of the valid vote count.
“We are in dire straits, but let’s hope that after the elections results come in during the night, we will have crossed the electoral threshold,” Bennett said on Tuesday.
The party also hopes the final tally, which will include votes cast by soldiers, would give it a boost and save it from extinction.