As soon as the page has been turned on Draghi, Italy is already on the campaign trail with President Sergio Mattarella’s decision on Thursday to dissolve parliament, prompting early elections to be held on September 25.
“The political situation has led to this decision,” Sergio Mattarella said in a brief televised address, referring to the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Draghi after three major parties from his coalition defected on Thursday in a vote of confidence in the Senate.
“The discussion, the voting and the way in which this vote was cast yesterday in the Senate showed the end of parliamentary support for the Government and the absence of prospects for a new majority to be born,” he explained, while paying tribute. to the “effort made during these 18 months” by Mario Draghi.
These legislative elections to renew the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will be held on September 25, according to government sources.
An ultra-favorite “centre-right” coalition
The big favorite in the upcoming elections is the so-called “centre-right” coalition, which brings together Forza Italia, the right-wing party of Silvio Berlusconi, and the extreme right represented by the League of anti-immigrant populist tribune Matteo Salvini and Fratelli d’ Italy.
Fratelli d’Italia, a post-fascist party chaired by Giorgia Meloni, is at the head of voting intentions, with almost 24%, ahead of the Democratic Party (22%) and the League (14%), according to a poll by the SWG institute held on July 18. Forza Italia would collect 7.4% of the votes and the 5 Star Movement (M5S, populist) 11.2%.
Until further notice, the resigning government led by Mario Draghi remains in place to deal with current affairs.
A resignation that has become inevitable
The resignation of the former head of the European Central Bank had become inevitable after Forza Italia, the League and the M5S refused to participate in a confidence motion called this Wednesday by the head of government in the Senate.
Mario Draghi said he was willing to remain in office on the condition that the parties in his coalition align themselves around a government “pact”, already compromised last week by a first defection from the M5S. His response was scathing.
Arrived at the head of the Government in February 2021 to get Italy out of the health and economic crisis, Mario Draghi, 74, presented his resignation to President Mattarella on July 14, who immediately rejected it.
Mario Draghi considered null his government of national unity, which goes from the left to the extreme right, after the crisis caused by the defection that same day during a key vote, already in the Senate, of the M5S, a formation faced with strong internal dissensions and a hemorrhage of parliamentarians.
The loss of an ally for the EU
But his call was ignored by the heavyweights in his coalition, already with their eyes glued to the upcoming election campaign. In the end, only the center and the left embodied by the Democratic Party (PD) stayed by his side until the end, among other things because they fear more than anything early elections where they will be defeated by the right in all the polls.
“We are ready. This nation desperately needs to recover its conscience, its pride and its freedom,” tweeted a 45-year-old journalist who could become the next head of the Italian government on Thursday.
The EU and NATO are losing a “pillar”, a precious ally in their support of Ukraine against Moscow in Mario Draghi, and they fear the coming to power of the Russophile Matteo Salvini.
Source: BFM TV
