this attempt is not successful (known as a constructive vote of no confidence). History The electoral threshold for a party to be allocated a Knesset seat was only 1% until 1988; it was then raised to 1.5% and remained at that level until 2003, when it was again raised to 2%. On 11 March 2014, the Knesset approved a new law to raise the threshold to 3.25% (approximately 4 seats). In 1992, in an attempt to produce more stable governments, Israel adopted a system of direct election of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister was directly elected separately from the Knesset in 1996, 1999 and 2001. The direct election of the Prime Minister was abandoned after the 2001 election, having failed to produce more stable governments. Voting method Israel's voting method is simplified by the fact that voters vote for a political party and not specific candidates in a closed list system. On election day, and upon entry to a polling station, the voter is given an official envelope, and shown to a voting booth. Inside the booth is a tray of slips, one for each party. The slips are printed with the "ballot letters" of the party (between one and three Hebrew or Arabic letters), and the full official name of the party in small print. Each party publicizes their letters prior to election day, with most election posters featuring them. As many political parties in Israel are known by their acronyms, several parties can spell out their name in two or three letters, and thus use their name as their ballot letters (e. g., Meretz and Hetz). The voter chooses the relevant slip for their party, puts it in the envelope, seals it, and then places the envelope into the ballot box. The system is simple to use for those with limited literacy. This is especially important in Israel where many new immigrants struggle with the language. Each party must register its chosen letters with the Israeli Central Elections Committee, and certain letters are reserved. If a new party wishes to use letters from an older party, it must receive permission from that party. Example of reserved letters are for Likud and for Shas. Voting is by paper ballot and votes are counted manually before being entered into a computer system which is not connected to the Internet. Israel does not employ electronic voting due to fears that