Italian Prime Minister Draghi announces that he will resign.
The Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi, has said that he will resign on Thursday night.
The prime minister won a vote of confidence in the Senate earlier in the day, but the future of his government was in doubt after the populist 5-Star Movement boycotted the vote, throwing his coalition into crisis.
The vote was 172-39, but 5-Star senators were absent after confirming they would not participate in a vote on a bill to ease high energy costs.
“I will submit my resignation to the president of the republic this evening”, Draghi told the cabinet, according to a statement issued by his office.
“The coalition of national unity that supported this government no longer exists,” he added.
Draghi’s broad national unity government was formed in February 2021 with parties on the right and left to help Italy recover from the pandemic caused by COVID-19.