The day after the fall of the Draghi government, the parties began campaigning for the snap general elections on 25 September.

The hurry is indicated.

The symbols of the parties and list connections to be shown on the ballot papers must be deposited with the election officer at the Ministry of the Interior in Rome by August 14.

The verified lists of candidates, with their signatures, must be submitted to the competent courts of appeal by August 22nd.

It is a novelty in the history of the Republic of Italy that the vote will take place in the autumn.

Since 1948, the Italians had always elected parliament in the first half of the year and thus determined their government.

There have already been eight early elections.

Matthias Rub

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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President Sergio Mattarella made it clear in a short speech at the Quirinal Palace on Thursday evening that he considers new elections to be the most unfavorable way out of a government crisis.

But after two de facto votes of no confidence within a week against former ECB boss Mario Draghi, whom he himself appointed to the highest government office in February 2021, he had no choice but to dissolve parliament.

Mattarella entrusted the resigned head of government and his cabinet with the continuation of official business until a new government was formed.

This process could drag on until November after the elections at the end of September.

So it will be a long farewell to Draghi and his ministers.

Mattarella: Current situation does not allow a break

Mattarella warned politicians not to let up in passing and enforcing the reforms that have been initiated.

"It is my duty to emphasize that the current situation does not allow any breaks," said the President.

In times of war and inflation, of energy crises and pandemics, it is more necessary than ever to make political decisions without delay.

So, while the politicians are waging a "campagna in costume" for the next parliament in the "holy" holiday month of August, they also have to fulfill their duties as representatives of the people elected in 2018.

It will be a politically turbulent summer, followed by a presumably heated autumn.

All signs indicate that the right-wing parties can count on an election victory, or at least a majority of the votes.

The alliance of the post-fascist Italian Brothers party under Giorgia Meloni, the right-wing nationalist Lega led by former interior minister Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi's Christian-democratic Forza Italia seems to have been consolidated again.

Most recently, there had been a dispute over the presidential election in January, when the three alliance partners had failed to push through a common candidate.

Or to prevent the re-election of the incumbent head of state, Mattarella.

The competition between Meloni and Salvini for the leadership role has also repeatedly strained the alliance, but the tempting prospect of a joint takeover of power in a few months is likely to put the arm-wrestling on hold for the time being.

Meloni is undisputed in her party.

At best, Salvini is dealing with grumblings from the moderate Lega wing around Economics Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, who had favored a continuation of the Draghi government, but need not fear a revolt.

Several cabinet members have resigned from Berlusconi's Forza Italia in protest at the party's voting behavior in the no-confidence vote against Draghi on Wednesday evening, but the position of the four-time prime minister as party leader is not in jeopardy for the time being.

On the left, on the other hand, the cards are being reshuffled, much to their detriment.

Social Democratic party leader Enrico Letta's project of forging a broad and lasting alliance with the left-wing populist Five Star Movement under Giuseppe Conte has failed miserably.

"Never again with the five stars!" resounded Letta from his party, which now has to go into the race without an alliance partner of any size worth mentioning.

The decline of the wisping Five Stars under their overwhelmed leader Conte is likely to continue.

The election winners of 2018, with almost 33 percent of the votes at the time, are still internally divided, despite several splits.

And there will hardly be enough time before the elections in two months for the formation of a “third pole” of the center that is being sought by several small parties in the political center.