Following the resignation of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy will hold a snap national election on September 25th. His national unity government had effectively collapsed after the rightist parties withdrew their support.
It will be the first autumn national election for more than a century in Italy, where the second half of the year is normally taken up with getting the budget law through parliament, Reuters reports.
A bloc of conservative parties, led by the far-right Brothers of Italy – heirs to Mussolini’s fascist party – looks likely to win a clear majority at the ballot, a study of opinion polls showed this week.
Draghi, an unelected former central banker who has led a broad coalition for almost 18 months, handed in his resignation earlier on Thursday and was asked by President Sergio Mattarella to stay on in a caretaker capacity.
“We must deal with the emergencies related to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, inflation and the cost of energy,” Draghi told cabinet colleagues.
He said that the government must also implement the National Recovery and Resilience Plan that sees Italy tapping billions of euros of post-pandemic European Union funds in return for reforms.
Although the vote is set for the end of September, the horse-trading traditionally associated with setting up an Italian government is likely to take weeks or even months.
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