The members of the 5-Star Movement (M5S) are taking part in an online vote on Thursday on whether to back a government led by Premier-designate Mario Draghi.
M5S founder Beppe Grillo had held up the vote on whether to support the new government after talks earlier this week but the anti-establishment group decided to go with poll after the former head of the European Central Bank agreed to have a Green 'Super-Minister' in charge of orchestrating the ecological transformation of the economy in his new cabinet.
The M5S, the biggest group in parliament, is by its nature hostile to the idea of a government led by a non-politician technocrat and the issue has generated big differences within the movement.
Indeed, some have complained that the question the M5S members respond to on the Rousseau platform is framed to make it difficult to vote no.
President Sergio Mattarella gave Draghi a mandate to form a government last week after outgoing Premier Giuseppe Conte's executive collapsed.
Mattarella called on all the parties in parliament to get behind a government led by a non-political figure to avoid having to have snap elections in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Italy holding the presidency of the G20 this year and co-chairing the COP-26 UN Climate Summit with the UK.
The only party to have given Draghi a flat-out No is the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FdI) group.
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