Craxi Resignation Bid Rejected by Italian President

Italian President Francesco Cossiga announced Wednesday that he has rejected the month-old resignation of Socialist Prime Minister Bettino Craxi and told him to seek a vote of confidence in Parliament.

Cossiga’s move appeared to be a last-ditch effort to head off early elections now scheduled for early 1988.

On Tuesday, Communist politician Nilde Iotti, assigned to sound out leaders of political parties on ways to solve the crisis, finished her consultations. She expressed belief that there were ways of unblocking the political stalemate but did not announce any results.

Craxi’s five-party coalition collapsed March 3.

Cossiga accepted Craxi’s resignation, but “with reserve,” a phrase that means the president can reject the resignation if no other solution is found.

The technique of rejecting Craxi’s resignation and sending him back to the chamber for a confidence vote was used successfully when Craxi resigned in the aftermath of the hijacking of the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro in October, 1985.

On that occasion, Craxi won the confidence vote, and his government continued in office until the March 3 resignation, when the dominant Christian Democrat party insisted he honor an agreement to hand over the premiership to a Christian Democrat in March.

But this time the crisis showed Craxi’s coalition to be split over whether referendums on aspects of Italy’s nuclear energy program and on judiciary reform should be permitted to be held as scheduled in June.