The centre right is sticking with
former Forza Italia (FI) Senate Whip Paolo Romani as its
candidate for Senate Speaker despite a veto from the
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), the other big winner
in the March 4 general election, sources said Thursday.
The decision was taken by FI leader Silvio Berlusconi at an
ongoing summit in Rome with anti-migrant Euroskeptic League
leader Matteo Salvini, the centre right's premier candidate, and
the other main ally, rightist nationalist Brothers of Italy
(FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni.
The centre right and the M5S appeared to have sealed a deal
to hand the Senate Speakership to the former and the House post
to the latter.
But FI heavyweight Romani, 70, is opposed by the M5S because
of a probe into his allegedly illicit use of a municipal
cellphone in the northern city of Monza.
The centre right, which got 37% of the vote on march 4
compared to the M5S's 32%, has enough votes in the Senate to
vote in Romani on its own in the final ballot, political experts
say.
M5S leader Luigi Di Maio repeated that Romani, for them, is
"unvotable".
Asked therefore if the deal with the M5S was off, Salvini
said "it certainly looks that way" and voiced the hope the
centre-left Democratic Party (PD), reeling from an election
debacle, would come to the table.
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