The Israeli government's chief coalition partner on Sunday called to postpone an upcoming vote to dissolve the Knesset (parliament) before early elections likely to be held in September.

Yisrael Beiteinu party's Robert Ilatov on Sunday submitted the request to delay the vote by a week to coalition chairman Ze'ev Elkin, in order to press for a vote on an alternative version of a bill requiring religious students to do either military or national service, Army radio said.

The rightist party, led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, wants to enable the last-minute legislation of a proposal that would eliminate deferments for religious students.

The government's Ministerial Committee for Legislation is scheduled to discuss alternatives to the so-called Tal Law on Sunday, only three days before the 18th Knesset dissolves in order to prepare for the general elections, Israel Radio said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to officially announce the date of elections at a Likud party convention Sunday night.

Lieberman said earlier that he intends to get the "Service for All" bill passed by May 9, despite the opinion of the legislature' s legal counsel that the bill can not be passed during the recess.

Lieberman's effort could secure a preliminary vote before the Knesset dissolves, ensuring that the issue would come up for a deciding vote as soon as the new Knesset convenes.

He has threatened to have his party quit the coalition if the rule was not passed by the ninth, but the Knesset's dissolution invalidated the threat.

Lieberman told reporters at last week's press conference that another possibility was to get 61 out of the Knesset's 120 members to sign a petition forcing the Knesset speaker to hold a discussion on the issue, whether the body was in session or not.

The Supreme Court recently struck down the decade-old Tal Law, which allows full-time yeshiva seminary students indefinitely put off military service.

Yisrael Beiteinu's proposal would have the 18-year-old men either enlist in the Israel Defense Forces or perform a year of civilian national service, allowing draft exemptions for 1,000 yeshiva students, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Ultra-orthodox parties fiercely oppose the proposal, since one of its requirements calls for ending government subsidies for those who refuse either option.

Some party leaders have threatened to have thousands of students go to jail en masse, rather than conform to the proposal' s dictates.