Two more MPs from the ruling
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) left its House caucus
Thursday and joined the mixed caucus.
Massimiliano De Toma and Rachele Silvestri brought the number
of recent defections from the party to at least five, not
counting a Senator who was ejected for voting against the 2020
budget bill.
The defections have upped pressure on leader and Foreign
Minister Luigi Di Maio in the wake of disappointing local
election results.
Several M5S lawmakers have defected to their former alliance
partners - Matteo Salvini's rightwing nationalist
League party.
The M5S is now in government with the centre-left Democratic
Party (PD), after Salvini's bid to force a snap election by
pulling the plug on the former alliance backfired last summer.
There has been speculation that some of the former M5S
members have been motivated by wanting to keep their seats in
any future election, or hang on to the half of their salaries
which they currently devolve to a small and medium-sized
business fund.
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