Israel will hold parliamentary elections within four months, a year ahead of schedule, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday, dpa reported.
"I won't allow a long election campaign of 18 months, which would harm the country. It's preferable to have a short election campaign of four months, which can quickly restore stability to the political system," he said.
Voting is expected on September 4, though Netanyahu did not provide a date.
He made the announcement in a speech to Likud delegates in Tel Aviv, where he summed up his government's achievements since taking office three years ago. The crowd, using his nickname, cheered "Bibi, Bibi."
Netanyahu had earlier denied he was seeking an early election, but last week publicly raised the possibility.
Although he has led one of the most stable coalitions in Israeli history, local observers said it was in Netanyahu's interest to initiate an early poll now, rather than be dragged into a later vote.
Recent opinion polls show his nationalist Likud returning to parliament as the majority party and Netanyahu continuing as premier.
The longer he waits, the more time Netanyahus challengers from the centre-left Labour Party and the centrist Kadima would have to establish themselves as serious rivals.
Since taking office in 2009, Netanyahu's right-wing coalition has faced no serious threats from either the opposition or within.
That could change as the government and parliament prepare to debate two highly charged issues: Israel's next two-year budget, and a new law to regulate army service for ultra-Orthodox Jews.
An early election would likely finish off what little chance is left for serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks before then.
There have been no Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations for nearly the entirety of Netanyahu's term.
A suspicious Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called for a freeze of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank as a condition for talks. Netanyahu implemented a partial 10-month construction freeze, which ended in September 2010, but has since refused any extension, insisting on unconditional talks.
All of Netanyahu's current coalition partners, with the exception of the centre Independence faction of Defence Minister Ehud Barak, are right-wing and nationalist or ultra-Orthodox.
"We will seek all opportunities to advance true peace with our neighbours," the premier said Sunday. "We will form as broad a government as possible."
Netanyahu hopes to be elected president of the Likud Convention - the party's largest decision-making body - giving him the ability to determine the method for choosing the Likud's list for the Knesset.
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