Italy's president held crisis talks today to determine whether Romano Prodi, who resigned after losing a Senate vote, has enough support to be reappointed prime minister or must be replaced.
"We're a country of madmen," said Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema to one newspaper after Mr Prodi unexpectedly stepped down on Wednesday following a foreign policy defeat in the Senate.
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| Forza Italia (Go Italy) party activists shout slogans and show signs saying "Bye Bye Romano". |
After winning the narrowest election in post-war history to lead the 61st government since 1945, Mr Prodi quit after nine months in the wake of a revolt by the left in his Catholics-to-communists alliance.
Mr Prodi and Mr D'Alema, who both had previous spells as prime minister cut short, know Italy is accustomed to revolving-door politics, which explains why financial markets could largely shrug off the latest convulsion.
President Giorgio Napolitano, an 81-year-old ex-communist, must now end the impasse while Mr Prodi stays as caretaker leader.
Mr Napolitano scheduled more than two dozen consultations with party and parliamentary leaders over Thursday and Friday, which one paper called a game of "Russian roulette" for Mr Prodi.
"Any attempt to resuscitate the Prodi government will fail from the outset," said Silvio Berlusconi, the media tycoon who hopes to return to power if an election is held. "The left has never had a majority in this country and never will."
Mr Berlusconi was the first post-war premier to serve a full five years, although he had to resign and reform his government due to infighting.
The centre left is pledging continued support for Mr Prodi and Mr Napolitano could ask him to form a new government or face a confidence vote in parliament.
Victory would let Mr Prodi stay in office, but he is not willing to carry on without guarantees from all his allies they will stop their infighting. With policy divisions running deep, it is hard to see how such guarantees could be credible.
Gianfranco Pasquino, politics professor at the Bologna centre of Johns Hopkins University, said a revived Mr Prodi government "would be hanging by a thread and not last long".