Tuesday is a crunch day for
Italy's government crisis with Premier Giuseppe Conte addressing
the Senate at 15:00 local before possibly resigning and
officially opening the crisis.
He would then go to President Sergio Mattarella who becomes
the arbiter of the next step, with several possible scenarios on
the horizon.
Mattarella would open consultations with all the political
parties and try to see if there is a majority in favour of going
to elections or if there is one in favour of forming another
government.
A snap vote is the preferred option of League leader Matteo
Salvini, who called time on the League's 14-month alliance with
the 5-Star Movement (M5S) on August 8 and is riding high in the
opinion polls.
There is also a chance of the M5S forming an alternative
government with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), despite
longstanding hostility and a range of policy differences.
There is even a chance of Salvini pulling back and reviving
the alliance with the M5S, after a reshuffle, but that faces the
opposition of M5S leader Luigi Di Maio who is angry at Salvini
for pulling the plug on Italy's first all-populist government.
And Conte may not decide to resign at all and instead wait
for a possible no confidence vote from the League.
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