Rome – Premier Romano Prodi resigned Wednesday after nine months in office following an embarrassing loss by his center-left government in the Senate on foreign policy, including Italy’s military mission in Afghanistan.
Prodi aides did not rule out the possibility that President Giorgio Napolitano would ask Prodi to try to form a new government, and from first discussions among some allies, support for another Prodi government seemed to be building.
“We are ready to reconfirm our full faith in the Prodi government,” said Dario Franceschini, a leader of the Olive Tree, the largest grouping in Prodi’s coalition.
Napolitano’s office said political consultations would begin today on which leaders might have enough support to form a new government. In the meantime, it said, the president, who met with Prodi on Wednesday night, had asked him to stay on in a caretaker role.
The loss, by two votes in the Senate, came on a bid by Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema to rally the often bickering partners in the coalition, which range from Christian Democrats to Communists.
He was hoping the allies would close ranks in the vote on foreign policy, including Italy’s military mission in Afghanistan, but his bid backfired.
There appeared to be no immediate talk of early elections, which could be called by Napolitano if no leader can muster strong enough support to win the required confidence vote of confirmation in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate.
It was unclear whether conservative opposition leader and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has suffered heart problems since he was defeated in April, would jump into the race should there be early elections.
Berlusconi has been predicting for months that Prodi’s government would collapse because of the radical leftists in the coalition. Prodi took office May 17.
Italy has 1,800 troops in Afghanistan, which were sent in by Berlusconi. The current government has agreed to keep the troops there, sparking opposition from its own Communist allies.
