Arye Deri Leaves Knesset Seat After Shas Election Losses
The Shas party leader will keep his role as chairman but step down from parliament after the party secured its lowest seat count in twenty years.
By Yasmin Farouk ·
Arye Deri announced on Sunday that he is withdrawing from the Shas party list and will not serve as a member of the 26th Knesset. The head of the haredi party stated he is giving up his parliamentary spot to make room for younger representatives, though he will retain his position as party chairman. He plans to continue overseeing the party’s direction and its negotiations with coalition partners.
The decision follows a sharp decline in Shas’s electoral performance. The Sephardic haredi party won six seats in the October 27 election, a drop from the 11 seats it held in the previous Knesset. This result marks the lowest number of seats the party has achieved in over two decades. The loss intensified internal criticism of Deri’s leadership, with some accusing his stance on military conscription for haredi students of contributing to the party’s decline.
Deri first requested to resign as party leader on Wednesday, a move initially rejected by the Shas Council of Torah Sages. The council confirmed that Deri had submitted a resignation letter but forbade him from leaving his post as movement leader. They stated in a letter that they were confident he would follow their directive. Deri said last week that he accepted the council’s unequivocal directive and would remain in his leadership role. His exit from the Knesset now allows him to focus on party management without holding a legislative seat.
Yinon Azoulay will take the first slot on the party’s Knesset slate, replacing Deri. Two other candidates, Dror Amos and Moshe Abutbul, have also stepped down from the slate. Amos, who had been a notable addition to the list due to his 25 years of service in the IDF, had held the sixth slot. His departure, along with Abutbul’s from the seventh slot, clears the way for Uriel Busso and Yosef Taieb to enter the Knesset.
Deri said in a statement that he received approval from the Council of Torah Sages to step aside in favor of young representatives who have proven themselves in parliamentary work. He plans to undertake extensive tours across Israel to strengthen ties with activists and the public. He also said he will continue to convene the Shas faction weekly and closely oversee legislative and committee work. Deri noted that he has served as a minister in multiple portfolios, including Interior and Economy, and remains committed to safeguarding the Torah world and Jewish identity.
The party’s future coalition options remain fluid. Shas has recommended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the candidate to form the next government, despite an opposition bloc showing openness to partnering with haredi parties. In contrast, the Ashkenazi haredi party United Torah Judaism abstained from recommending a candidate to President Isaac Herzog. Deri’s legal history includes a 1999 conviction for bribery and a 2022 conviction for tax offenses, which led to a High Court ruling in 2023 that he was not eligible for cabinet posts.
