The entire political spectrum was thrown into a tailspin Tuesday morning with the announcement of cancelled early elections thanks to an unity government deal between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Opposition Kadima party leader Shaul Mofaz.

The deal makes for a massive 94-member coalition, one that allows Netanyahu to significantly improve political mobility and support for major potential domestic and international moves.

Mutual demands by both sides enabling the mega-coalition include tackling a laundry list of issues, among them mandatory military service for religious seminary students, changing the electoral system, far-reaching socioeconomic reforms, and possible changes in settlement activity and relations with the Palestinian National Authority. Mofaz had also been reportedly committed to supporting the government's policies until its term ends in late 2013.

Internationally, local political observers speculated that Netanyahu may also be seeking to strengthen his coalition ahead of a possible military strike against Iran's nuclear infrastructure, if P5+1 talks with Teheran do not curb their fuel enrichment program.

Asserting that Israel "has not had such a stable government in decades," Netanyahu did acknowledge that "the coalition's stability is fraying somewhat."

"Instability leads to extortion and populism, and these harm the main aspects of our lives: defense, economics and society," Netanyahu said. "We live in a country that needs political stability... it seems to me that the right thing to do is to go for a brief election campaign."

Kadima officials, who until recently leveled harsh criticism at Netanyahu's leadership skills and social policies, welcomed the announcement that they would be joining the Likud-led coalition, saying that the move would afford Netanyahu greater political stability while Kadima would be spared the embarrassment of a crushing defeat at the ballot boxes.

Polls conducted last week by the country's leading daily newspapers all projected a slam-dunk victory for Netanyahu if early elections were to be called.

A poll published Thursday by Ha'aretz showed that Netanyahu is the only candidate with a realistic shot of winning the election, with 48 percent of respondents saying that he is "most suited" to lead Israel.

Trailing Netanyahu far behind in the poll were Labor Chairwoman Shelly Yacimovich with 15 percent support, followed by Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu's senior Yisrael Beiteinu (YB) coalition partner and foreign minister, with nine percent support, and Mofaz trailing with a modest six percent.

Previous surveys had predicted that Likud would win 30 parliamentary seats in the elections.

In a statement sent to Xinhua Tuesday morning, YB said they welcomed the unity move.

Saying that "the real test of this new coalition is introducing a law which makes national service compulsory for all, YB said they "hope that the coalition will formulate a new law that will not just be another version of the Tal Law."

However, some opposition parties, which had lent near wall-to- wall support for the decision to call early elections and had already begun hiring campaign strategists, blasted Netanyahu and Mofaz for throwing the political system into turmoil.

"It is a 'mega-stinking' maneuver initiated by a prime minister who wanted to avoid elections and a desperate opposition leader nearing a crash," said Zahava Gal-On, who heads the left-of-center Meretz party.

"It's a disgrace to the Israeli parliament and a terrible message to the public, which is losing trust in the state's leadership," said Gal-On.

Yacimovich, who is now due to lead the opposition instead of Mofaz, called the move "an alliance of cowards, and the most ludicrous zig-zag in Israel's political history," Ha'aretz said.

Meanwhile, rising political star Yair Lapid, who several months ago resigned his post as lead anchorman for Israel's Channel Two Television's Friday night news broadcast to form the Yesh Atid ( Future) party, responded to the news in a posting on his Facebook page, describing the proposed unity government as "the old kind of politics - corrupt and ugly."

"It is time to remove it from our lives. This is politics of chairs instead of principles... of the interests of the group instead of the whole nation," Lapid, who now has to put his political aspirations on hold for another 18 months, wrote. He predicted that the Netanyahu-Mofaz alliance would be short-lived.