Shas Party Chairman Aryeh Deri has made it clear to the conference launching the party's Knesset-election campaign that there would be no union on the ballot with fellow haredi-religious party United Torah Judaism.
The interior minister promised, "We worked together with United Torah Judaism and succeeded very strongly. In the next term as well, we will work in full cooperation and preserve the Jewish character of Israel." He stressed that "Sephardim will vote for Shas, Ashkenazim will vote for United Torah Judaism."