Luigi Di Maio has resigned as leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement in a step that will shake up Italian politics and prompt fears of a snap election after months of internal party dissent and coalition infighting.
Earlier, ministers of the co-governing Five Star Movement (M5S) met to discuss strategy ahead of crucial regional elections in Emilia Romagna and Calabria, where the party is expected to face defeat to the right-wing League party led by Matteo Salvini.
The 33-year-old insurgent politician is expected to remain on as foreign minister for the coalition government which looks to be on increasingly shaky ground.
M5S won more than a third of the vote in national elections in 2018, allowing it to enter into a rocky coalition government with Salvini’s League, but Di Maio’s popularity has been waning since then.
He regularly clashed with Salvini, who ultimately left government leaving Di Maio to form an alternative and similarly uncomfortable coalition with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) — a move intended to avoid snap elections which Salvini had hoped to use to capitalize on the League’s rising support.
Recent polls put M5S at around 16 percent and lawmakers have been abandoning the party in their droves. More than 30 have left Five Star’s parliamentary group since the government was formed in September, with some leaving voluntarily and others being expelled — and many of those who remain have been eager for a change in leadership and worried about a party split. Meanwhile, the League is polling at around 31 percent, while PD is polling at 19 percent and warning its coalition partner to get its act together.
Di Maio was criticized by the M5S founder for seeming to pick fights with his coalition partners, Bloomberg reported. He has also been criticized for taking on too much by attempting to fulfill the roles of foreign minister and party leader simultaneously.
Reports also suggested that Vito Crimi, the head of M5S’ internal regulations committee, will take the helm as party boss until a new leader is named.
The ruling M5S and PD will now seek to avoid a coalition collapse, as a snap election triggered by Di Maio’s departure could ultimately see Salvini’s League sweep to victory and into power.
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