Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte intends to resign after losing his majority, his office has said.
Mr Conte will officially inform his colleagues of his intentions at a cabinet meeting tomorrow. He will then go to the presidential palace to formally hand in his resignation.
As head of state, President Sergio Mattarella could reject his offer or tell him to form another coalition.
But with the president’s insistence on strong leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, there is also a chance he will accept the resignation and dissolve parliament, triggering an election two years early.
Mr Conte survived two confidence votes in parliament last week, but then lost his absolute majority in the Senate after centrist ally and former PM Matteo Renzi defected.
The Italian PM has led a long-bickering centre-left coalition for 16 months
Before that, for 15 months, he headed a government still with the populist 5-Star Movement, Parliament’s largest party, but in coalition with the right-wing League party of Matteo Salvini
That first government collapsed when Mr Salvini pulled his support in a failed bid to win the premiership for himself.