Netanyahu suggests lowering electoral threshold after raising it just 4 years ago

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggests lowering the electoral threshold for a party to enter the Knesset to 2.75 percent, after it was raised by a government he headed just four years ago.

“I’m raising the possibility of lowering the electoral threshold by half a percent. This must be with the agreement of everyone. Without such agreement we won’t move forward on the matter,” Netanyahu tells coalition leaders, according to a statement from the Likud party.

The threshold was raised from 2% to 3.25% in 2014, preventing smaller parties that don’t gather the requisite number of votes from entering the Knesset.

Critics at the time argued the move was meant to prevent Arab parties that barely pass the threshold from being elected, while supporters said it would inject stability into Israel’s fractious coalition politics.

With a number of his coalition partners hovering around the electoral threshold in polls, lowering it could help Netanyahu cobble together another government following the next elections, which are currently scheduled for November 2019.