Mattarella considers early elections in Italy
The President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, will receive today the presidents of the Chambers and is considering calling early elections, after accepting today the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who remains in office for current affairs.
Mattarella "will receive in the afternoon at the Quirinal Palace the presidents of the Chambers, in accordance with article 88 of the Constitution", which refers to the dissolution of Parliament prior to the call for elections, a brief statement from the head of state said.
Draghi went to Mattarella to present his resignation after three of his national unity coalition partners, Silvio Berlusconi's conservative Forza Italia (FI), Matteo Salvini's far-right League and Giuseppe Conte's populist 5-Star Movement (M5S), withdrew their support for him in a confidence motion in the Senate on Wednesday.
The article of the Magna Carta mentioned by the head of state states: "The president of the Republic may, after consulting its presidents, dissolve the Houses and even just one of them. He may not exercise this power in the last six months of his term of office, unless they coincide in whole or in part with his last six terms of the legislature".
The dissolution of the chambers is only envisaged in the event of an election, and Mattarella began his second term as head of state in January.
The president of the Senate, Elisabetta Casellati, will see Mattarella at 16:30 (14:30 GMT), while the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Fico, will be received half an hour later at 17:00 (15:00 GMT).
The early elections could be held at the end of September or the beginning of October, as the constitution establishes a maximum of 70 days for them to be called.
Italian media predicted that the announcement of the dissolution of the chambers could take a few days to arrive, possibly over the weekend, so that they could be held in October, although the head of state's speed in summoning the presidents of the chambers suggests that they may be held right away.
"Thank you, even the central bankers use their hearts. Thank you for this and for what we have done together," an emotional Draghi said this morning before going to the Quirinal when he was greeted with applause and with many MPs on their feet.
Draghi will return to the lower house at 12 noon (10:00 GMT) and close the parliamentary process initiated yesterday in the Senate at the behest of Mattarella, who last Thursday rejected his resignation over the M5S walkout and urged him to go to parliament to try to rebuild the government coalition.
The Prime Minister went to the Senate yesterday to try to rebuild the coalition of national unity that supported him and won the motion with 95 votes in favour and 38 against - although only 133 of the total 320 senators voted - but ended up losing the support of the M5S, FI and the League.
The economist had headed a coalition of national unity since February 2021 that included almost all the parties in the chamber, except for Giorgia Meloni's ultra-leftist Brothers of Italy.
Last week a crisis broke out in his coalition after the M5S failed to vote for a confidence motion, breaking ranks with the rest of his partners, prompting Draghi to tender a resignation that he confirmed today.
Berlusconi and Salvini are looking favourably on the call for early elections, an option that their electoral partner and ultra-leader Meloni, alone in the opposition and the country's leading force according to most polls, has been demanding for days.
In recent days, trade unions, employers, numerous associations of all kinds and even the Catholic Church had encouraged Draghi's continuity due to the ongoing economic, energy and social crisis.
