Shas, Degel HaTorah and Agudat Israel, which previously acted as a coordinated bloc, enter the election campaign split into three rival centers of power • Aryeh Deri struggles to maintain his influence against Moshe Gafni and Yitzhak Goldknopf, while mutual accusations surrounding the conscription law deepen mistrust • Thus the united ultra-Orthodox axis has become an internal arena of struggle that weakens his political power