Israel's opposition leaders gave mixed reaction to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement Tuesday that early parliamentary elections would be held in the country within three or four months.

Netanyahu decided to move forward the elections, originally set for October next year, after failing to achieve a majority within his 66-seat coalition to pass next year's budget.

Following Netanyahu's announcement at a flash press conference, Kadima party leader Shaul Mofaz told Israel's Channel 2 television that it is expected of his party to replace Netanyahu. Mofaz also stressed that he is the "candidate with the biggest experience."

Meanwhile, former Kadima leader Tzipi Livni said Netanyahu "has made Israel isolated and withdrawn" from the world. She added on her Facebook page that the people of Israel will have to choose their path again.

"What happened to Netanyahu that he had to go to the polls because the system did not allow him to pass a budget," Israeli television pundit-turned-politician Yair Lapid from the Yesh Atid party told Channel 2.

Labor party leader Shelly Yehimovich applauded the move, saying that she may ask Livni, who lost Kadima's leadership to Mofaz in March, to join her party for the next elections.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, also welcomed Netanyahu's decision and argued that it was expected and that his party would never support cuts in the general budget.

"Shas would not support a budget that tramples the middle class and the poor," Yishai said.

The ultra-Orthodox parties openly rejected the expected budget cuts which would slash NIS 14 billion (3.5 billion U.S. dollars) dedicated to education and welfare, of which many ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel are beneficiaries.