Italy’s Unofficial Leader Matteo Salvini Fighting to Hold Onto Power

Salvini faces an uphill battle following the collapse of the Italian government last week.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s allies have urged supporters to hit the streets and protest as Italy inches toward forming a new government that could shut him out of power for years to come, The Telegraph reports.

The Five Star Movement, a hard-right political party comprised of Salvini’s former coalition partners, is in talks to create a new coalition with the centre-Left Democratic Party following the government’s collapse last week.

Italian media reports the Democrats could agree to a Five Star demand that Giuseppe Conte, who resigned as prime minister just days ago, be reinstated as the head of the new government.

Salvini’s party, the League, is seething over the potential power shift, and has pointed out that the party won 34 percent of the national vote in May’s European parliament elections.

If the Conte appointment falls through, the next likely step would be to hold an election this fall.

Salvini, who has drawn both support and derision for his nationalist, anti-immigrant policies, would be a frontrunner in the election.


