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Bloomberg
Italy’s Luigi Di Maio resigned as leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, as his fading populist party faced the prospect of being thrashed in regional elections this weekend.
The 33-year-old Di Maio told a meeting of Five Star ministers that he’s stepping down from his party job, but plans to stay on as foreign minister at a meeting in Rome on Wednesday, according to three officials briefed on the discussions. He plans to make a public statement this afternoon.
The Five Star leader has faced mounting internal dissent as the party plunged in opinion polls and lawmakers abandoned his party. More than 20 lawmakers have left or been expelled since Di Maio opted to back a second coalition for prime minister Giuseppe Conte last September.
Five Star has been the senior member of both Conte governments — the first with the nationalist League, the current one with the center-left Democratic Party — after winning the most votes in Italy’s last general election in 2018.
His exit from the party job will fuel speculation that Italy may be heading for a snap election that could see right-wing populist leader Matteo Salvini become premier.
Italy’s 10-year debt erased losses on the news, after earlier seeing yields climb as much as eight basis points.