Senior United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni will head the party’s electoral list, replacing Housing and Construction Minister Ya'acov Litzman as the first placed candidate and party chair.
The change is due to an important agreement reached in 2019 between UTJ’s two constituent parties, the hassidic Agudat Yisrael and the non-hassidic “Lithuanian” Degel Hatorah.
Agudat Yisrael had for many years enjoyed greater representation than Degel due to the hassidic community having been historically larger than the non-hassidic sector.
But the 2019 agreement gave both sides equal numbers of MKs on the joint list, and also guaranteed that chairmanship of UTJ and first place on the list would alternate between chairs of Agudah and Degel.
Under the deal reached on Monday, Gafni will continue to fill the powerful position of Knesset Finance Committee chairman and Litzman will receive a ministerial portfolio.
Separately, Shas head and Interior Minister Arye Deri announced that long-time Shas MK and Deputy Finance Minister Yitzhak Cohen would not be running for Knesset in the upcoming elections.
Shas MK Meshulam Nahari is also reportedly to be taken off Shas’ electoral list. Religious Services Minister Rabbi Ya’akov Avitan, currently not an MK, and influential Shas figure Haim Biton will be the two names to enter the new Shas list for the upcoming election.