Premier Matteo Renzi is set to
confirm his resignation and indicate a choice between two ways
forward at a meeting tomorrow with the executive of his
center-left Democratic Party (PD), majority sources said
Tuesday.
The outgoing premier will propose either a government of
national responsibility with the participation of as many
political parties as possible, or early elections.
The PD has no intention of leading a government on its own
only to be the target of opposition fire, the sources said.
President Sergio Mattarella has reportedly said there can be
no elections without a proper electoral law, given that Italy
currently has two different laws for each branch of parliament.
Renzi announced he would step down after a crushing majority
of voters rejected his constitutional reform law in a December 4
referendum.
Yesterday he agreed on Mattarella's urging to stay until the
end of the week to see the 2017 budget through its last reading
in the Senate.
Today, the government said it will put its budget bill to a
confidence vote and aims to see it held by Wednesday evening.
Statements on the vote should start at 12:00 and the first call
for voting is expected at 14:30 tomorrow.
Earlier, sources said Renzi had called for early elections
based on whatever electoral law results from a Constitutional
Court ruling on the Italicum electoral law.
The Constitutional Court said it will hold a hearing on the
Italicum on January 24.
Critics of the law, which was approved earlier this year,
claim it assigns an unfairly large bonus to the winning party.
Under the law, parties that win 37% of the vote get a bonus
allotting them 54% of the seats in the Lower House.
The current legislature ends in 2018, but elections could be
held as early as February 2017 if an electoral law is in place
by then.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano of the small New Center
Right (NCD) party, a junior member of Renzi's ruling left-right
coalition, has also called for a general election to be held in
February.
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