August 12, 2019

Anna Murray 

Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, also deputy prime minister and head of the hard-Right League, suggested a snap election in October, but met with a lot of resistance from other parties except Brothers of Italy, extreme-Right and heirs to Fascism.

Enrico Letta, the former leader of centre-left Democratic Party, Italy's premier between 2013 and 2014, criticized Salvini had no principles since he ended 14-month-old coalition with the anti-establishment, vaguely centre-Left Five Star Movement (M5S) on August 8. Letta was also worried about Salvini’s leading Italy out of the EU.

Matteo Renzi, another former Italian premier from 2014 to 2016, still having power in the center-left Democratic Party, also suggested on August 11 that it was crazy to hold hasty elections and believed a majority of Italians would prefer an institutional government to save this country. 

Letta judged Salvini could win the election, which he thought was a big danger for Italy. Therefore, he as well as Renzi suggested to form a second government under Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. 

As to the leader of the M5S, Luigi Di Maio, he regarded such no-confidence elections as "foolish and dangerous." Moreover, he hoped to cut the number of lawmakers in parliament by a third before holding an election.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of Brothers of Italy, as well as Salvini is eager to stimulate the growth of the country. Ms. Meloni, 42, who started her political career as a teenager and admired Benito Mussolini a lot, cannot wait to cooperate with Salvini to govern Italy.

However, it is President Sergio Mattarella who can make the decision of the election. The president is against such political turmoil brought by the hasty election.

Photo:Webshot.