Shas
ש״ס
Shas won 6 of the 120 seats in the election of 27 October 2026, with 299,533 votes (5.26%).
Shas is the Haredi party of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Sephardi chief rabbi, founded it and was its spiritual leader until his death in October 2013, and it has run for the Knesset since 1984.
Since then it has sat in most governments, whether Labor or Likud led them. Aryeh Deri leads it.
- Leader
- Aryeh Deri
- Founded
- 1982
- In the 26th Knesset
- 6 seats
The best result of Shas since 2013 was 11 seats, in the election of 2022.
Seats won in each Knesset election since 2013. Where Shas ran inside a joint list, the column is the whole list's seats.
| Election | List | Letters | Votes | Share | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Shas | 299,533 | 5.3% | 6 | |
| 2022 | Shas | שס | 392,964 | 8.2% | 11 |
| 2021 | Shas | שס | 316,008 | 7.2% | 9 |
| 2020 | Shas | שס | 352,853 | 7.7% | 9 |
| September 2019 | Shas | שס | 330,199 | 7.4% | 9 |
| April 2019 | Shas | שס | 258,275 | 6.0% | 8 |
| 2015 | Shas | שס | 241,613 | 5.7% | 7 |
| 2013 | Shas | שס | 331,868 | 8.8% | 11 |
The results are the Central Elections Committee's; 2026 is the committee's official results of 4 November 2026. The committee's results
Shas has 6 members in the 26th Knesset.
Aryeh Deri
No. 1 on the list
Yinon Azulai
No. 2 on the list
Michael Malchieli
No. 3 on the list
Yoav Ben-Tzur
No. 4 on the list
Haim Biton
No. 5 on the list
Dror Amos
No. 6 on the list
In the election of 2026, Shas took its highest share of the vote in Rekhasim, 43.7%.
The five towns of at least 5,000 eligible voters where its list did best that year.
- Rekhasim43.7%
- El'ad38.9%
- Netivot28.9%
- Bnei Brak25.2%
- Giv'at Ze'ev22.7%
These parties are part of the story of Shas.
- United Torah JudaismUnited Torah Judaism is the joint list of the two Ashkenazi Haredi parties, Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah, first formed in 1992.
- YachadYachad is a party that Eli Yishai, a former leader of Shas, founded ahead of the election of 2015, bringing together Haredi and religious Zionist voters.
Frequently asked questions
Who leads Shas?
Aryeh Deri leads Shas.
When was Shas founded?
Shas was founded in 1982.
How many seats does Shas have in the Knesset?
Shas won 6 of the 120 seats in the election of 27 October 2026, with 299,533 votes (5.26%).
What were the ballot letters of Shas?
In the election of 2022, Shas ran on the ballot letters שס.
Sources: English Wikipedia, Shas, Hebrew Wikipedia, מפלגת ש"ס, the Central Elections Committee.