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An ultra-Orthodox in front of a Likud poster showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump. REUTERS / Ammar Awad

The election campaign is coming to an end in Israel. This Tuesday, September 17, voters will appoint their deputies for a second election in five months. Last April, Benyamin Netanyahu was unable to form a coalition. His former defense minister, Avigdor Liberman, refused to join his government, denouncing concessions made to religious parties.

With our correspondent in Jerusalem , Guilhem Delteil

State-religion relations prevailed in the countryside . But religious parties maintain a solid foundation. In a Tel Aviv café, in front of a mostly secular public, three legislative candidates debate the relationship between religion and the state.

At the heart of the exchanges, the establishment of public transport Shabbat, weekly day of rest in the Jewish religion, and the establishment of a civil marriage. Left and right , parties are trying to shake up the status quo established at the creation of the country.

"Vote for a party that looks like him"

But this challenge to religious rules could push believers to block, said Rananel Cohen, an ultra-Orthodox living in Tiberias in the north of the country. " I think every believing Jew will vote for a party that looks like him," he says. Many practitioners already voted for religious parties, but today this trend has grown stronger . "

Traditionally, ultra-Orthodox are more mobilized than other communities. The prominence of religious issues in the debate could further increase their participation. And even if their parties return to the opposition benches, they could maintain a significant political weight, said Shuki Friedman, director of the "Nation, State and Religion" center at the Israel Institute of Democracy.

" What we saw in 2013," says Friedman, " is that Netanyahu and the other parties were aware that they might need the ultra-Orthodox in a future government. Netanyahu preferred not to touch hot topics . "

Since the early 1980s, ultra-Orthodox parties have integrated the majority of Israeli governments.

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