Political Career
Shalgi joined the secular-liberal party Shinui, and served as chairman of its secretariat between 1996 and 1999 and again from 2001 to 2003, as well as chairing the party's foreign affairs and defense committee. In the 2003 elections he was elected to the Knesset and chaired the Education, Culture and Sports Committee.
In July 2004 he was appointed Minister of Science and Technology in Ariel Sharon's government as a replacement for Eliezer Sandberg (Sandberg became Minister of National Infrastructure after the Yosef Paritzky affair). In October 2004 he was appointed acting Minister of the Environment when fellow Shinui MK Yehudit Naot was suffering from cancer. Following her death in November, Shalgi's position was made permanent, and he gave up the Science and Technology ministry.
However, in December 2004 Shinui left the coalition after disagreements on the 2005 budget, and Shalgi left his ministerial post. He followed Avraham Poraz when Shinui split after internal elections, and joined the Secular Faction. He lost his seat when Hetz (the Secular Faction's successor) failed to cross the electoral threshold in the 2006 elections.
Read more about this topic: Ilan Shalgi
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