The centre-right alliance that was
one of the two winners of Italy's inconclusive general election
met in Rome Wednesday to assess the state of negotiations over
parliamentary Speakers.
The alliance got 37% of the vote to become the top coalition
while the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) became the
top party with 32% of the vote.
Within the centre right, anti-migrant Euroskeptic League
leader Matteo Salvini more than tripled their vote to 17.5%,
overtaking Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI)
which got 14%.
Salvini thus became the centre-right premier candidate.
Like Salvini, M5S leader Luigi Di Maio says he has a mandate
to govern despite not getting a majority.
Also meeting with Salvini and Berlusconi Wednesday were
rightist nationalist Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia
Meloni and the leader of a small centrist group Us for Italy
(NPI), Raffaele Fitto.
Talks between the League and the M5S on parliamentary
Speakers are expected to agree on giving the Senate one to FI
and the Lower House one to the M5S, according to political
pundits.
The M5S has vetoed FI's Paolo Romani as Senate Speaker
because of a criminal conviction for misappropriation involving
the use of a municipal cellphone.
For the moment the centre right is sticking to Romani as its
candidate but is expected to switch candidates to appease the
M5S.
The Speakerships are expected to be agreed by Saturday.
Their election will be the first act of the new parliament
which sits on Friday.
The outlook for government formation talks is bleaker with no
majority alliance in the offing.
Pundits say there may be a 'president's government' backed by
most groups with a limited mandate to change the electoral law
so as to produce a winner and pass other essential legislation
like the budget.
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