Below the threshold: Elkin, Sukkot, Radman among those left out of 26th Knesset after election

From Likud's Ze'ev Elkin to protest leader Moshe Radman, Tuesday's election left several prominent Israeli political figures without Knesset seats.

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Ze'ev Elkin, Zvi Sukkot, and Moshe Radman, three prominent political figures who failed to secure seats in the 26th Knesset following Tuesday's Israeli election.(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90, Canva, CHAIM GOLDBERG/FLASH90, Sharon Leibel/Flash90)ByAVI SOLOMONOCTOBER 31, 2026 13:13Updated: OCTOBER 31, 2026 13:27

Several prominent political figures, including incumbent lawmakers and high-profile candidates, failed to secure seats in the 26th Knesset following Tuesday's elections, as their parties fell short of expectations and left familiar faces outside Israel's parliament.

Some were serving MKs, while others were candidates who had come close to securing positions considered likely to win seats. However, the final election results upended their political plans.

Yesh Atid lawmakers lose their Knesset seats

Yesh Atid ran a targeted campaign aimed at securing seats for candidates in the second group of 10 on its electoral list, particularly MKs Vladimir Beliak and Naor Shiri. The two, ranked 16th and 14th, respectively, stood out during the previous Knesset term for their work on the Finance Committee, where they led challenges against the government.

The effort, however, proved insufficient. Yesh Atid, led by Yair Lapid, secured just five seats, its share of the partnership with Bennett, leaving both lawmakers well outside the next Knesset.

The Religious Zionist Party also suffered a setback that cost MK Zvi Sukkot his seat. Sukkot, ranked seventh on the party's list, was involved in several prominent controversies during the previous Knesset term. The party won six seats in Wednesday's reported election results.

In July 2024, he was among the lawmakers who arrived at the Sde Teiman military base following the arrest of reserve soldiers suspected of abusing a Palestinian detainee. Sukkot entered the base through a breach in the fence as part of a protest against the soldiers' arrests.

He later sparked another controversy after being filmed smashing a monument with a hammer in the Palestinian village of Madama. Sukkot claimed that the monument had been erected to commemorate terrorists.

The incidents made him one of the political figures most closely associated with confrontations surrounding IDF activities and the settlement movement in the West Bank. This time, however, the Religious Zionist Party failed to win enough seats to bring him into the Knesset.

Protest leader Moshe Radman falls short

The Democrats also left a prominent figure outside parliament: protest activist Moshe Radman, who was placed ninth on the party's electoral list.

Radman, a high-tech entrepreneur and one of the leaders of the protest movement against the government's judicial reform legislation, had been among the movement's most prominent figures since it began.

He founded the high-tech protest movement, organized and led demonstrations, marches, and rallies, addressed protesters, and became one of the leading voices calling for the judicial legislation to be halted.

He later expanded his activities to include protests against the government and demands for early elections.

After joining the Democrats and securing ninth place on the party's list, Radman sought to translate his public activism into a seat in the Knesset. However, the Democrats won only eight seats, leaving him outside parliament.

Ze'ev Elkin and other prominent Likud figures left out

Several prominent figures in Likud also failed to secure Knesset seats.

Among the most notable was Minister Ze'ev Elkin, who left Likud in December 2020 to join Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope party and subsequently served as part of the National Unity Party.

Ahead of the elections, Elkin returned to Likud and competed in the party primaries, facing a difficult internal campaign.

Although he finished 17th in the nationwide primary results, the party's system of allocating positions and reserving places for designated candidates pushed him down to 32nd place on the final electoral list, too low to secure a Knesset seat. Election night results had already highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the makeup of the next Knesset.

Also left outside parliament were bereaved father Itzik Bontzel, who was assigned the 29th position on the list, MK Amit Halevi, and MK Avihai Boaron, who headed Likud's grassroots election campaign.

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