Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is on the brink of extinction.
Before the decisive vote of confidence on Wednesday evening, three important parties in his government announced that they would not take part in the Senate vote.
Without the Lega, Forza Italia and the Five Star Movement, the 74-year-old will not be able to achieve broad approval in the smaller of the two parliamentary chambers as he had hoped – which he himself had made a condition of continuing at the head of government.
Lega and Forza Italia did not want to vote because they wanted to vote on another resolution that would have ruled out continued government with the Five Star Movement.
After his resignation, which was rejected by the President last week, Draghi spoke before the Senate on Wednesday.
He called on all parliamentarians in his multi-party government to put their differences aside and express their confidence in the executive for the good of the country.
The crisis in Rome had escalated because the Five Star Movement had not expressed its confidence in the government – in which it sits as an important party – the previous week.