Italian President Sergio Mattarella has dissolved parliament, launching a two-month campaign. The general election would be the next test for populist forces after this year’s elections in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Austria.
Italy’s election would be a three-way contest between the ruling centre-left Democratic party (PD), the most pro-European of Italy’s large political forces, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement headed by comedian Beppe Grillo and the centre-right, led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, in alliance with the anti-euro Northern League.
Each is expected to win about a quarter of the vote. The election, therefore, is likely to lead to a hung parliament and a protracted period of uncertainty that could unnerve the financial markets.
The centre-left PD has governed since 2013 under three different prime ministers: Enrico Letta, Matteo Renzi and Paolo Gentiloni. The party is led by Mr Renzi, who became prime minister in 2014 promising reforms to put Italy back on track. He resigned as prime minister in late 2016 after suffering a heavy defeat in a referendum on his flagship constitutional reforms. He was re-elected the PD leader in May. Leftwing dissidents split from the party.
In November, Mr Berlusconi’s centre-right won the presidency of Sicily, the economically distressed Mediterranean island of more than 5 million people, fending off a challenge from Five Star Movement, which considered the region one of its main centres of support. Fabrizio Micari, backed by the PD, finished a distant third on a mere 19 per cent. The poll was seen as a final test and a barometer of the national mood before the general election.
Italy has returned to economic growth, but the recovery is trailing the rest of the euro area. The eurozone’s third-largest economy remains vulnerable to financial shocks, because of high levels of debt and the weakness of its banking system. The unemployment rate stands at 11.1 per cent, higher than the EU average.
Photo: Presidencia de la República Mexicana
