Crunch week for election law (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, May 29 - Italy is set for a crunch week on an election law that may lead to elections this autumn.
    Ex-premier and Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi said a deal is possible this week with ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) and comedian Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) on a German-style proportional model with an entry bar of 5%.
    FI has already come out in favour of the German model and yesterday M5S voters voted online to back it too.
    Small parties have come out against the entry bar, which they say is too high and will block them - although the Progressive and Democratic Movement (MDP), a PD splinter group, reckons they will be able to make it. Tuesday will see a key meeting of the PD to assess progress on the law and possibly give a green light to a pact with FI and the M5S.
    Elections in the autumn, instead of at the end of the parliamentary session's natural term in February 2018, will pose the risk of needing extraordinary administration for next year's budget, pundits say.
    The PD is already gearing up to cope with this eventuality, sources in the party said.