Italian Prime Minister D’Alema Resigns

Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema resigned Wednesday, opening up the possibility of early elections if no agreement is reached on a replacement.

The presidential palace said President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi accepted the beleaguered D’Alema’s resignation, asking him to stay on in a caretaker capacity. Ciampi will begin formal consultations with the nation’s political leaders today.

D’Alema tried to resign Monday, but Ciampi rejected the offer, telling him to spell out the political situation in Parliament first. D’Alema addressed the Senate on Wednesday, then met with the Cabinet before going to Ciampi to quit again.

The president can ask someone else from D’Alema’s coalition to try to form a new government; he can appoint a nonpolitical caretaker; or he can call immediate elections, a year before their scheduled date.

D’Alema’s center-left coalition was battered in regional elections Sunday, bringing demands by the opposition for parliamentary elections a year ahead of schedule.

In a 20-minute speech to the Senate, D’Alema never referred to his impending resignation.

He said Italy needed a strong government in the remaining 11 months of the legislature and that it was vital that a May 21 referendum to change the electoral system be held.

After 18 months as prime minister, D’Alema, the first former Communist to head an Italian government, was paying the price for a humiliating defeat in the regional elections.

The victors in Sunday’s elections, led by conservative media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, kept up their calls for a general election.