In an official statement, Edelstein explained: "In the past few days, I have been trying to advocate to cancel this needless election and save you, the citizens of Israel, billions. Unfortunately, not everyone cooperated, so we will be unable to cancel the election."

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A week ago, Edelstein raised the possibility of canceling the do-over election. In a speech at the Herzliya Conference, the Knesset speaker said, "I think that if we can't implement my initiative [to cancel], we'll see exactly the same players sitting around the same table after Sept. 17, and they will need to the issues they are refusing to talk about right now."

"It would be better for our country and the public as a whole if we would sum things up right now and save three pointless months, and billions [of shekels]. At least I'll be able to look at myself in the mirror after Sept. 17 and know that I tried," Edelstein said.

"And who can guarantee that we won't have a third election?" he asked.

The center-Left Blue and White party refused to support the cancellation of the election, calling it "spin from Netanyahu."

"There's no way back," the party said.

According to an Israel Hayom-i24NEWS poll conducted last week, 62% of Israelis would support the election being canceled. The poll also found that 73% of the public favored Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forming a unity government with Blue and White and 27% opposed such a move.

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The vote was 65 in favor of the bill, 43 against, with six abstentions.

To be enacted, the bill will have to pass all the requisite readings by this Wednesday – the extended deadline given to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by President Reuven Rivlin to form a governing coalition.

Meanwhile, in a last-ditch attempt to try and head off an early general election, Habayit Hayehudi chairman Rafi Peretz met with Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman Monday afternoon and arranged for him to meet with Netanyahu. The two were sitting down while their fellow MKs voted to dissolve the Knesset. According to a source in the Likud, the meeting ended without any breakthrough.

Netanyahu was expected to address the Knesset plenum and make an announcement at 8 p.m.

The flurry of activity came after Netanyahu met with faction leaders earlier Monday to discuss a date for a new Knesset election. The faction leaders and the prime minister reportedly agreed on a date toward the end of August.

Earlier Monday, MK Miki Zohar presented the Knesset Secretary with a bill to dissolve the 21^st Knesset and hold a new election.

Lieberman said earlier Monday he was insisting that a bill on haredi conscription authored while he was still serving as defense minister be passed by the Knesset, as planned.

"Anyone can realize this is a stance of principle. That's what the Likud is most afraid of, that people will realize this isn't revenge or anything [like that]. The Likud is trying to create a narrative of personal revenge," Lieberman said.

The Yisrael Beytenu leader also had harsh words for Israel Hayom's coverage of his latest political moves, saying that "Pravda is the days of Stalin was gentler."

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Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman was the first person to touch on the issue, saying at a meeting of his faction that "we are in favor of a Jewish state, but against a state of Jewish law. The haredi-national haredi camp got 22 seats. We have five, so it's obvious to me that we won't be able to get everything done in this Knesset that we wanted to. We'll demand that the status quo be upheld and this madness be prevented," Lieberman said.

Later, Shas leader Aryeh Deri responded to Lieberman and requested that he dial down the rhetoric: "The election campaign is over. The discussions and negotiations take place behind closed doors. There is no other way of putting a government together," Deri said.

"It's a shame to make threats and lay down red lies and then retreats. I read headlines about a state of Jewish law – that's not at all where we're headed," he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a calming message of partnership, saying, "Don't worry, in the end we'll have a government."

At a Likud faction meeting, Netanyahu said, "We are in the middle of assembling a coalition. That's difficult work with a lot of different aspects in terms of distributing positions and control of government budget and many other challenges, as well. I hope that this work will be complete before the final date, but I'm not sure it will, because usually, we come together around the deadline.

"We are starting the necessary processes in the Knesset. I intend to talk personally with each minister and MK and will try to do in in the next few days. We are working hard on the haredi conscription bill," Netanyahu said.

The Blue and White party also convened on Tuesday to toast the new Knesset. Party co-leader Benny Gantz said, "We will be a stronghold of rule of law and democracy. Every democracy needs checks and balances."

Yair Lapid said that "anyone who was elected based on incitement and splits should save us fake calls for unity."

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Each party running for the Knesset compiles a list of 120 potential Knesset members. The number of representatives of each party who actually wind up serving in the Knesset is based on the percentage of the vote the party gets in a Knesset election. The minimum electoral threshold required to enter the Knesset is 3.25% of the vote, meaning that the fewest MKs a given party can have in the Knesset is four. If, for example, a party is projected to win 10 seats, those 10 seats go to the candidates in the first 10 places on the list. The 20^th spot would be considered "unrealistic" and, barring a major upset, the candidate in that spot would not serve in the Knesset.

The Blue and White list includes nine women in "realistic" spots; the Likud seven; the New Right four; and Labor and Yisrael Beytenu each have three women in spots that could actually see them into the Knesset. The various Arab parties have four women in realistic spots on their lists; and Kulanu, Meretz, and the Union of Right-Wing Parties have two women each in realistic spots.

If the parties led by MK Orly Levy-Abekasis and Adina Bar-Shalom pass the minimum electoral threshold, there could be as many as 40 women in the next Knesset, which would be an all-time record. Moreover, if those two parties make it into the Knesset, there would be four female party heads: Levy-Abekasis, Bar-Shalom, Meretz Chairwoman Tamar Zandberg, and the New Right co-leader Ayelet Shaked.

The 19^th Knesset (2013-2015) included 27 female MKs. The 20^th Knesset, which is now dissolved, originally included 33 women. Two later additions pushed that number to 35.

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