Opinion on blamable actors for the current government crisis in Italy 2019

A survey conducted in Italy in August 2019, concurrently with the beginning of the government crisis, revealed that almost half of respondents blamed both ruling parties for it. In fact, 43.1 percent of interviewees stated that both the League (Lega) and Five Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle) were unable to govern the country and to face their responsibilities. Moreover, almost one third of interviewees blamed only the League and declared that this party brought the government down with the only aim of capitalizing consent. On the other hand, according to 23.6 percent of respondents, only the Five Star Movement was to blame and the reason for that was its rejecting attitude towards new proposals.

 Timeline of the government crisis 

On August 7th, 2019, the Italian Senate voted in favor of the high-speed rail connection between Turin and Lyon. The two majority parties took opposite positions on the matter. More specifically, the League supported the project together with the opposition parties, whereas the Five Star Movement tried to block it, without succeeding. On August 8th, 2019, Giuseppe Conte recalled the Parliament from summer break after being asked for a no-confidence vote by Matteo Salvini, the leader of the League. On August 9th, 2019, Matteo Salvini submitted a no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. On August 20th, 2019, the Italian PM Giuseppe Conte announced his resignation before the Parliament. Thereafter, the Head of State Sergio Mattarella started consultations with the political parties to seek for feasible options regarding a new coalition. If no coalition is reached, the Italian population will be called upon to vote.
The government ruled by the Five Star Movement and the League was formed following the general election held in Italy on March 4th, 2018 .

 New coalition or snap election? 

According to roughly 49 percent of Italians interviewed during the first few days of crisis, snap elections would have represented the most suitable solution to overcome the crisis. However, from the same survey, it also came out that one third of Italians were wishing for a new transitional government able to vote for the budget law and to implement the initiative aiming at decreasing the number of parliamentarians. Furthermore, a survey conducted just few days before the beginning of the government crisis about the voting intentions of Italians unveiled that more than 36 percent of them would have abstained or would have been uncertain about their vote .