SEL extends olive branch to Marino

(ANSA) - Rome, October 9 - The small leftist Left Ecology and Freedom (SEL) party extended outgoing Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino an olive branch Friday on Facebook.
    "We want to go ahead with the electoral program," SEL city council whip Gianluca Peciola wrote on Facebook. "Asking the mayor for a change of direction, for the truth, and for respect of the mandate is the right thing to do.
    Otherwise he can confirm his resignation".
    Marino, who is from Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD), resigned Thursday amid huge pressure from his own party in the wake of opposition allegations he spent 20,000 euros on non-official dinners on the taxpayer's dime.
    He said Thursday while stepping down that "I submit my resignation, knowing that it can be lawfully withdrawn within 20 days. This is not cunning on my part: it is the search for a serious verification as to whether it is still possible to rebuild these political conditions". He was elected in 2013 with 63.9% of the vote on a joint PD-SEL ticket.
    In July, Marino's center-left coalition lost its junior ally as SEL Deputy Mayor Luigi Nieri quit and the party declined to sit on Marino's reshuffled city council.
    "We continue serving Rome," SEL coordinator Paolo Cento said at the time. "We leave the council seats to the PD's one-party government".
    In a survey held just hours before the mayor quit, 63% of respondents said Marino should step down.