Kulanu, the party headed by Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, didn’t do well in the April 9 elections, winning only four seats — the minimum required to enter the Knesset.

“In pre-election polling, we saw that we were losing support because of our defense of the Supreme Court, something to which voters did not relate,” an associate of Kahlon told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “Kahlon’s principled defense of the judiciary ticked off the Likud, which took revenge against Kulanu. At the same time, some leftists voted for Orly Levy-Abekassis and her social issues agenda and others for the center-left Blue and White Party because Kulanu refused to rule out a government partnership with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," said the source.

Center-right Kulanu, the Cinderella of the 2015 elections, lost 60% of its voters in its dismal showing this year. Once a powerful, influential party with 10 Knesset seats, it's now a minor player.

Kahlon must have found the campaign frustrating. He crisscrossed the country in his typical energetic fashion, trying to translate his economic achievements for the country’s middle-income and poor citizens into votes, to no avail. Even his expectations of public support for his staunch defense of Israel’s judiciary against the aggressive, relentless government in which he served was proven misplaced. His former voters scattered, leaving Kahlon helpless to stop the electoral hemorrhage.