Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley may not make the cut to participate in the next Democratic primary debate in South Carolina on Jan. 17.

According to the criteria released by NBC News on Friday, each candidate must maintain an average of at least 5 percent in either recent national polls or in polls in conduct in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina. Plus, the news outlet will only consider the five most recent polls published before Jan. 14, 2016 and recognized by the debate's host. This puts O'Malley in jeopardy of being excluded from the debate since he has an average of less than 5 percent in national polls, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Although Real Clear Politics finds that the former Maryland governor is currently at exactly 5 percent in Iowa, he still won't qualify for the debate if his numbers drop in The Hawkeye State and if he fails to gain traction elsewhere.

However, an unnamed NBC executive said the network expects all three candidates to qualify and will likely round up from a 4.5 percent, reports CNN. Still, that might not help O'Malley much since he averaged just 4.3 percent in the three most recent Iowa polls under NBC News' consideration and has a 3.5 national average.

Following NBC's announcement, the other two Democratic challengers called for O'Malley to be included in the debate on Twitter. Brian Fallon, the press secretary for Clinton's campaign, tweeted:

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz also chimed in, tweeting support for O'Malley.

Spokespeople for the O'Malley campaign have yet to comment on the network's criteria.

The NBC News debate will be moderated by "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt in Charleston. It will be co-hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute.