The Italian president is opening formal consultations to see if any party or coalition can muster support to form a government after the inconclusive March 4 elections. President Sergio Mattarella will start consultations on Wednesday with the parliament speakers, followed by parties with the least political weight. On Thursday, the talks will continue with those winning the most votes, AP reported. The populist 5-Star Movement was the party with the highest number of votes. However, the center-right coalition led by the anti-migrant League would control the most parliamentary seats. Neither force can govern alone. 5-Star leader Luigi di Maio says he is open to a government with either the League or the Democratic Party, but he ruled out governing with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, citing his tax-fraud conviction.
Save Dissent to Save Democracy THE rising instances of physical violence and threats against political opponents and the inability to accept dissent must raise huge concerns amongst all of us who see democracy as perhaps the really stellar achievement since Independence. AAP’s attack on BJP headquarters and acts of arson committed under the very noses of their elite leadership; the attacks on Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia in Gujarat in the last two days; the recent manhandling of the caretaker of journalist Siddharth Varadarajan’s house by some garden variety thugs; and the violence and threats meted out regularly to their political opponents by political parties is surely deplorable and condemnable. This is a fatally flawed trend which will destroy the very foundations of our democratic institutions if not pushed back with all the strength and condemnation that the civil society can mobilise. Replaying the past To begin with, it must be clarified that we should ...
Comments
Post a Comment