Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is facing pressure to force an early election this year from lieutenants frustrated by dealing with an unruly coalition partner. Several senior members of Salvini’s League are urging their chief to capitalize on a growing lead in opinion polls to ditch the anti-establishment Five Star Movement which is hampering their efforts to deliver on election promises, according to a League government member and a senior party official who asked not to be named discussing confidential deliberations. Cabinet Undersecretary Giancarlo Giorgetti, a party strategist who is close to Salvini, has repeatedly voiced his frustration, the party official said.
Giorgetti told League lawmakers he spends more time sorting out problems created by Five Star than getting their measures through and is constantly managing crises, according to the official. Giorgetti’s office and a League spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on the remarks.
Some senior League figures would favor elections as early as April, ahead of May’s European Parliament elections which Salvini is portraying as a showdown between champions of national sovereignty and an elite of interfering eurocrats and Franco-German domination.
Full Article: Italy’s Salvini Is Said to Face Pressure to Force Early Vote – Bloomberg.