Italy’s Prime Minister Steps Down Amid Party Dispute!

Prime Minister Enrico Letta of Italy resigned on Friday, the day after his own Democratic Party voted to replace him with the party’s new leader, Matteo Renzi, the 39-year-old mayor of Florence.  Shortly before meeting with President Giorgio Napolitano to formally relinquish his post, Mr. Letta sent out his thanks to his supporters, adding, “Every day as if it were the last one.” 

It was a pointed reference to the many difficulties and hurdles he faced over the past ten months as the head of a coalition government of traditionally antagonistic political parties cobbled together after inconclusive elections last year. The coalition’s perceived limitations, and especially its inability after nearly a year in office to draft economic reforms to efficiently combat the decline of the euro zone’s third-largest economy, gave impetus to the Democratic Party’s demands for change, starting with Mr. Letta’s resignation. “The time has come to     emerge from the quagmire,” Mr. Renzi told Democratic Party leaders on Thursday, shortly before calling a vote to replace Mr. Letta. Mr. Renzi became party secretary in December after winning a hard-fought primary. Campaigning on a reform agenda, Mr. Renzi earned the nickname “demolition man,” for his stated ambition to shake up Italy’s entrenched political system. 

After accepting Mr. Letta’s resignation, Mr. Napolitano said he would consult with political party leaders on Friday and Saturday to evaluate his options, which theoretically could include new elections. But Mr. Napolitano has made clear that he does not intend to call new elections until changes are made to Italy’s electoral law, which many blame for producing the stalemate that has marked Italian politics in recent years. It is widely expected that Mr. Napolitano will ask Mr. Renzi to form a new government, which will then require parliamentary approval. Some opposition leaders criticized the Democratic Party for toppling the government as a consequence of internal party politics and called on the president to ask for a vote in Parliament to formally mark the end of Mr. Letta’s government. Mr. Napolitano dismissed the request as unnecessary.

“Parliament will be able to express itself on the origins and the reasons of the crisis when it will be called on to give a vote of confidence to the new government,” the president’s office said in a statement Friday.