La'am was reduced to five seats from Likud's 48 in the June 1981 elections, following disputes within Likud about the number of seats allocated to each faction in which many Herut members felt the Liberal Party and La'am were over-represented. On 26 October 1982 it was reduced to three seats as Amnon Linn and Peretz defected to the Alignment. However, it gained an extra MK when Avraham Hirschson replaced Liberal faction member Simha Erlich. In 1984, as part of a move to consolidate Likud, La'am merged into Herut. Four years later the Liberal Party and Herut formally merged to leave Likud as a unitary party.