FACTBOX: Religion in play as Jerusalem elects mayor

(Reuters) - Jerusalem residents choose a new mayor on Tuesday as part of municipal elections held throughout Israel.

Following are profiles of the candidates:

CANDIDATES

* NIR BARKAT (49): A secular Israeli businessman who has been the frontrunner in most pre-election surveys.

Barkat ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2003, taking 43 percent of the vote. He currently heads the opposition on the city council. In 1988, Barkat helped establish high-tech group BRM, which developed anti-virus software and later invested in companies such as BackWeb and Checkpoint, where he was chairman.

A former paratroop officer, Barkat holds degrees in computer science and business management.

* MEIR PORUSH (53): As representative of United Torah Judaism, an ultra-Orthodox party, the burly and bearded Porush commands an instant lead among Jerusalem's religious Jews, though he has tried to appeal to secular residents as well.

Porush, a member of parliament since 1996, predicted in an address to Yiddish-speaking supporters that all Israeli towns would have ultra-Orthodox mayors within a decade. He later said his remarks were made in jest.

* ARKADY GAYDAMAK (56): Formally running under his adopted Hebrew name Arieh Bar-Lev, Gaydamak is a Russian-born businessman who stormed Israel's public stage with philanthropic sprees and the purchase of Jerusalem's nationalist Beitar soccer club.

A Paris court is trying Gaydamak -- who holds French, Canadian and Angolan passports as well as Israeli and Russian citizenships -- in absentia for arms sales to Angola during its war on UNITA rebels in the 1990s. He has denied any wrongdoing.

* DAN BIRON (69): A former director of public television turned bar owner, Biron represents the Green Leaf party, which calls for marijuana to be legalized and for municipal investment in East Jerusalem to be boosted.

(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)