The recent resignation of Luigi Di Maio from the leadership of the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) spells the approaching demise of the current Leftist coalition government formed by the M5S and the Democratic Party (PD), Isabella Tovaglieri, a member of the European parliament from the Italian right-wing Lega party, told Sputnik on Friday
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2020) The recent resignation of Luigi Di Maio from the leadership of the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) spells the approaching demise of the current Leftist coalition government formed by the M5S and the Democratic Party (PD), Isabella Tovaglieri, a member of the European parliament from the Italian right-wing Lega party, told Sputnik on Friday.
On Wednesday, Di Maio stepped down as the head of the M5S, the biggest party in the ruling coalition, ahead of the crucial regional elections in Emilia-Romagna and Calabria on Sunday, prompting speculations about the party's future. Tiziana Beghin, a member of the M5S group in the European Parliament, on Friday told Sputnik that Di Maio's departure from the party's leadership would not affect the coalition government.
"The step back by Luigi Di Maio contributes to further accelerating the end of the left government, which has been divided over everything and has been creaking for some time now," Tovaglieri said, noting that the M5S is currently leaderless and its poll numbers are going down.
The main responsibility for the movement's current state, however, lies not with Di Maio, but with the movement's founder, comedian Beppe Grillo, Tovaglieri suggested.
"It is clear that [the party's] general assembly of the members, summoned [to be held] in March, will not be enough to put back together a disoriented movement, deeply divided and animated by personal ambitions, of which Di Maio has become the scapegoat. The real responsibilities of the crisis of the movement are in fact that of the founder Beppe Grillo, who designed the alliance with the PD and led to the end of the process," the lawmaker opined.
According to Tovaglieri, the Democratic party's situation is not that much better.
"The leader of the Democratic Party, [Nicola] Zingaretti, has announced that he wants to dissolve the party and launch a new political entity. Italia Viva of [former Italian Prime Minister Matteo] Renzi has repeatedly dissociated itself from the majority," the lawmaker said.
The turning point for the government will be the Sunday election in Emilia-Romagna, Tovaglieri believes.
"If the League wins in Emilia Romagna on Sunday, the [Prime Minister Giuseppe] Conte government will shatter and Italian citizens will be given back the right to vote and democratically choose who they want to be governed by," Tovaglieri predicted.
The current Italian government was formed in September 2019 following a collapse of the previous coalition government between the M5S and the right-wing Lega party, which led to an alliance between Di Maio's party and the center-left Democratic Party.
On Sunday, an election will be held in Emilia-Romagna, an import province that has been reliably left-leaning since the end of World War II. According to the latest polls, Lega is running head-to-head with the PD and many believe it has a feasible chance of winning, which could potentially deal a serious blow to the country's Left, including the government.
