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ROME - An ally of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi dealt his Government a potentially fatal blow yesterday by withdrawing support for his coalition, but the premier resisted calls to resign.
Clemente Mastella, whose Catholic party Udeur had been vital in ensuring a majority in the Senate (upper house), said he now favoured snap elections.
He stepped down as justice minister last week after he and his wife came under investigation in a corruption probe. At the time, he had said his party would provide "external" support to the Government but yesterday he said it would no longer do so.
Prodi's allies said he would not resign, but would address the lower house of Parliament today, possibly to call a confidence vote.
The most likely scenarios if Prodi is forced to resign are early elections or the forming of an interim government to revamp election laws widely blamed for Italy's instability.
Such a government would need widespread, cross-party support, which is far from guaranteed.
One analyst warned against writing off Prodi, saying he still may have a few surprises left, including drawing back senators to his side in a confidence vote.
"Let's see what happens when the chips are down," said Franco Pavoncello, a politics professor at John Cabot University in Rome.
- Reuters
