Government meeting (illustrative)
Government meeting (illustrative)Hezki Baruch

Senior sources in the coalition expect that elections will be held in June 2018, instead of as expected in November 2019, Channel 2 reported.

The expectation is due to the Ashkenazic-haredi UTJ party's refusal to vote for the State budget unless their draft law was approved first.

The "draft law" would include a Basic Law allowing the government to circumvent a 2012 ruling by the Supreme Court. The ruling, made in response to a suit filed by secular Israelis, declared allowing haredi yeshiva students to defer army service to be discriminatory.

Meanwhile, efforts are being made to reach a compromise and prevent a coalition crisis.

Culture Minister Miri Regev (Likud) said Saturday evening, "If you force elections on us, I'm telling you tonight - there's only one party in this coalition that doesn't have a reason to worry about elections. And it's name is Likud. We have an excellent Prime Minister, and I am sure we will come out of this stronger."