Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said before the November 1 elections that according to all of the polls he had seen, both Labor and Meretz would pass the electoral threshold - but his private pollster has said differently.
Meretz's failure to pass the electoral threshold granted the right-wing bloc its majority and ability to form a coalition.
While covering the elections, Channel 12 News analyst Amit Segal reported that Lapid's pollster promised throughout the lead-up to the elections that both of the smaller left-wing parties were safe. But following the report, pollster Mark Mellman emailed him, writing, "The claim (made by Lapid) that I saw Meretz and Labor pass securely, is completely and 100% incorrect. In fact, the truth is exactly the opposite."
In fact, Mellman claims that he continually warned of the danger to Meretz, despite the complacence demonstrated by Lapid.
Yesh Atid responded: "This news is not true. We do not know of information such as this in any internal or external poll presented to us throughout the campaign. Even in the last poll published by Meno Geva on Channel 12, and also in the last poll conducted for us by Mark Mellman, Meretz had five Knesset seats. This does not change the fact that Yesh Atid did everything in order to help Meretz in the last few days."