Italy’s Salvini Mulls Early Elections Amid Soaring Polls

(Bloomberg) -- Italians are holding their breath as they try to decipher Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s intentions: will he pull the plug on the shaky populist coalition with the Five Star Movement or stick with a government where he is the de facto leader? For now, not even reports that a close aide sought illegal funding from Russians have dented his popularity. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is expected to defend him in Parliament on Wednesday, while reaffirming Italy’s loyalty to the European Union and NATO.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alessandro Speciale in Rome at aspeciale@bloomberg.net;Giovanni Salzano in Rome at gsalzano@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Zoe Schneeweiss

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