Jerusalem - Israeli lawmakers voted to
dissolve parliament early on Thursday, paving the way for a new
election after veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed
to form a coalition government before a midnight deadline.
The ballot is widely expected to take place in September,
the second this year. It represented unprecedented upheaval,
commentators said, even in a country used to political
infighting, and dealt a blow to Netanyahu, who had claimed
victory in the last vote, held on April 9.
Parliament's 74-to-45 vote took place just minutes after a
midnight deadline for Netanyahu to form a coalition.
He is set to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister
in the summer.
The turmoil arose from a feud between Netanyahu's presumed
allies - ex-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, a far-right
secularist, and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties - over military
conscription.
The religious parties do not want young ultra-Orthodox
seminary students to be forced to serve in the military. But
Lieberman and many other Israelis want them to share the burden
of mandatory military duty.
Yet a new election represents less of a setback for
Netanyahu than the alternative - in which Israel's president,
Reuven Rivlin, could have asked another politician to try and
form a ruling coalition.
Faced with the prospect of having to step aside and watch
one of his political rivals push him to the margins, Netanyahu
instead drummed up votes to dissolve the 120-seat Knesset.