Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, in search of a new majority since the defection of a party member of his coalition, announced Monday evening that he would resign on Tuesday.
According to a press release from his cabinet, Mr. Conte convened a Council of Ministers Tuesday at 9 am, intended to "
inform the ministers of his intention to go to Quirinale (seat of the Presidency of the Republic) to resign
".
Mr Conte is hoping to secure a mandate from President Sergio Matterella in an attempt to form a new government, Italian media say.
Read also: Italy: Giuseppe Conte saves his government, but comes out of the crisis weakened
The political crisis was triggered by the former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (2014-2016), who withdrew his small party Italia Viva (IV) from the ruling coalition after weeks of criticism of the management of the health crisis and Mr. Conte's economic spending plans.
Italy has entered its worst recession since the post-war period, recording more than 83,000 deaths in the Covid-19 epidemic.
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In order to remain in power and avoid resigning, Conte had to appear before Parliament on January 20 for a vote of confidence from both chambers.
Easy in the lower house, the Senate vote was narrowly won, with only a relative majority after IV senators withdrew.
Only 156 votes against 140 had been collected, whereas it would have been necessary to reach 161 votes to obtain the absolute majority.
"A government is strong if it can count on at least 170 senators"
, declared Dario Franceschini, elected leader of the Democratic Party (PD, center-left) and Minister of Culture.
