ITALY: Draghi To Meet w/President To Resign As PM, Snap Election Likely

Prime Minister Mario Draghi has announced to the Chamber of Deputies that he will head to the Quirinale Palace this morning to hand in his resignation to President Segio Mattarella for the second time in less than a week. This time around the president is not expected to be able to convince Draghi to stay following a fractious and chaotic day in the Senate yesterday.

• The broad coalition led by Draghi broke apart as centre-right parties refused to offer their support in a confidence vote unless the populist 5-Star Movement were not included in gov't.
• There is unlikely to be another figure with the political heft and respect across the political spectrum as Draghi to hold together the broad coalition gov't, making snap elections in the autumn a likely outcome.
• Draghi's resignation ends what has been a largely stable political period for Italy since he took office in 2021. His resignation will come as some concern in Brussels and other major EU capitals given his credibility in enacting economic reforms during a period of rising inflation.
• Polls show the parties of the right in the best position to form a majority gov't after the election.