Pro-Pot Party Falls Short

Pro-Pot Party Falls Short

Green Leaf Party Fails To Gain Seat In Israeli Parliament

Losing parties outnumbered the winners in Israel's election, with pro-marijuana activists, ultranationalists and other fringe groups failing to win the 1.5 percent of votes needed to secure seats in parliament.

Thirteen parties, led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's hawkish Likud, won seats, according to results announced early Wednesday, but 14 others failed to make the grade.

Two parties left out of parliament that had been expected to fare better were the ultranationalist Herut, with an extremist Jewish settler from the West Bank city of Hebron in a prominent position, and Green Leaf, favoring legalization of marijuana.

Neither came close to the 1.5 percent of the vote that guarantees two seats in the house.

Herut gained notice by placing Baruch Marzel, a well-known anti-Palestinian extremist, as number two on its ticket and centering its campaign on him. However, Herut fell far short with 1.1 percent.

Green Leaf built on protest votes from disaffected Israeli youth, but had gained only 1 percent of the votes with almost all the ballots counted.

The environmentalist Green Party won only 0.3 percent of the vote, hampered in part by the similarity of its name to Green Leaf. However, the two parties combined would not have made the cut.

Other parties garnering only a few votes included Men's Rights in the Family, Love of Israel -- an Orthodox Jewish list presided over by centenarian Rabbi Yitzhak Kadourie -- and a party named simply "Rage."

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