The Italian Senate will vote on the scheduling of work related to the government crisis at 18:00 on Tuesday.
The crisis was triggered by Deputy Premier and League leader Matteo Salvini last week calling for a snap election, saying the ruling majority no longer exists after a dramatic split in votes over the TAV Turin-Lyon high-speed rail link.
The political parties are divided over how things should proceed, with the League wanting things to move fast so early elections can be held in the autumn after it presented a motion of no-confidence in Premier Giuseppe Conte in the Senate. The League’s former government partners in the 5-Star Movement and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) do not want the procedures to be rushed.
PD sources said that they think that around 159 lawmakers would be willing to vote for the slower schedule on Tuesday, when Senators who have managed to rush back during the recess from their fold and the M5S and the mixed group are added up.
That would be more than the 136 that the League could probably generate with its former, and probably future, allies in the centre right – Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (FI) and the rightwing Brothers of Italy (FDI) party. Under the slower schedule, Conte would not report to parliament before next week.
Mixed group Senate whip Loredana De Petris said the League, FI and FDI had asked for the Conte no-confidence motion to be voted on on Wednesday.
Via Ansa
