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Netanyahu eyes COVID-19 vaccine victory as Israel heads for fourth vote - AFP

Israel this month will hold its fourth election in under two years, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hoping goodwill from a world-beating COVID-19 vaccination campaign can finally secure him an elusive majority government.

When Israelis last went to the polls a year ago, they delivered a result that had become familiar: Neither the right-wing Netanyahu nor his centrist challenger Benny Gantz had enough support to form the necessary 61-seat parliamentary majority.

Just weeks after the last election, Israel entered the first of three coronavirus lockdowns.

In May, Netanyahu and Gantz formed a unity government, declaring that the unprecedented health and economic threats from the pandemic required political stability.

Their coalition, which had been set to last three years, collapsed in December when Netanyahu's refusal to approve a 2021 Budget forced new elections, to be held Mar 23.

Netanyahu, Gantz, other political leaders and voters have all expressed frustration with the seemingly endless cycle of campaigns that have mired the Jewish state in grinding political gridlock.

But Netanyahu, a wily political veteran with a long record of out-manoeuvring his rivals, is hoping he can sneak over the line this time thanks to the inoculation drive.

The 71-year-old, Israel's longest serving prime minister, has also clinched historic normalisation deals with four Arab states.

But despite Netanyahu's apparent successes, polls point to another indecisive result, with the leader lacking a clear path to form a government. 

Israel secured a large vaccine stock from Pfizer because its highly digitised medical system enabled it to offer the company fast, precious data on the product's impact, in what medical experts have called the largest-ever human clinical trial//CNA