JERUSALEM • The Israeli President's rejection of Parliament Speaker Benny Gantz's request for more time to put together a government has improved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chances of holding on to power.

President Reuven Rivlin took the rare step of refusing an extension on Sunday after understanding from Mr Netanyahu that he and Mr Gantz were not close to the power-sharing agreement they had committed to pursue to help the country weather the coronavirus outbreak.

Unless both men jointly requested to extend Mr Gantz's coalition-building brief before it was due to expire at midnight yesterday, the President would give Parliament three weeks to nominate someone for the task.

Mr Netanyahu would assuredly be that person because no one else in the Knesset can draw the kind of support he can.

As it stands, three alternatives exist and all of them favour Mr Netanyahu, despite his looming corruption trial. He could keep trying to form a government with Mr Gantz's centrist Blue and White party, whose leverage to extract concessions - including a stint as premier - has shrunken dramatically.

Mr Netanyahu can also try to win more defectors from the opposition camp, after successfully wooing one lawmaker on Sunday, allowing him to build a coalition without Mr Gantz.

And if his powers of persuasion fall short, snap polls have become a go-to solution ever since Mr Netanyahu first dissolved the Knesset in December 2018.

"A couple of weeks ago, we felt quite certain that we were going to get a government and avoid another election," said Hebrew University of Jerusalem's political science professor Reuven Hazan. Now, "we are back to the multiple-option waiting game instead of waiting for a government to be formed".

If Israel heads to its fourth election since April last year, then polls show Mr Netanyahu has strengthened enough since last month's vote to win the election outright. Surveys have not favoured him this much since the inconclusive election cycle began, and now he has no serious challenger.

By agreeing three weeks ago to team up with Mr Netanyahu in government despite the bribery and fraud charges against him, Mr Gantz broke up a broad political alliance that fought the Prime Minister to a draw in each of the previous votes.

Professor Yoram Meital, who teaches Middle East studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, gives equal odds to a unity government and another round of balloting, saying: "Rivlin's decision reflects political reality: Gantz cannot form a government."

"Prime Minister Bibi was once again revealed in his full capacity to dismantle a political opponent," he added, referring to Mr Netanyahu by his nickname.

Talks on a power-sharing deal faltered after the Prime Minister demanded veto power over the appointment of judges, a tool he could use to control which justices are involved in his three graft cases. He is accused of illicitly accepting gifts and plotting with media moguls to influence laws to their benefit in exchange for sympathetic coverage.

The urgency to form a coalition and avert a fourth round of elections has grown as the toll from the coronavirus mounts. The number of confirmed cases has gone over 11,000, with 110 people dead. A near-lockdown has crippled the economy, which is forecast to shrink by 5.3 per cent this year.

Former defence minister Moshe Yaalon yesterday urged Mr Gantz to abandon his talks with the Prime Minister. "Your naive intention to be drafted to an emergency government has come up against the cynical nefariousness of a fugitive from justice," he tweeted. "It's not too late to correct your navigational error."

BLOOMBERG