There is a growing likelihood that Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the far-right League will form a governing alliance after the two populist parties agreed on new parliamentary speakers over the weekend.

If the Five Star (M5S) and the League – formerly known as the Northern League – do form a government, it would put the eurozone’s third largest economy in the hands of economic populists with critical views of the EU. The possibility had initially been seen as unlikely in the immediate aftermath of the 4 March election.

Both groups have pro-Russian factions and have suggested they would not support further sanctions against the Kremlin, which both have argued are harmful to Italian industries.

The parties have not yet formed a government and there is no agreement on who might serve as prime minister if they did. But their decision to back two parliamentary speakers, including Italy’s first female speaker of the Senate, indicates that party leaders – Luigi di Maio of the M5S and Matteo Salvini of the League – are capable of finding common ground.

“I am very happy, moved and proud that parliament has started to work and that the centre-right has held together,” Salvini said after Saturday’s votes.

The 4 March election resulted in a hung parliament but it was the two populist groups – for years seen as outliers in domestic and international politics – that emerged strongest. The M5S, with 32% of the vote, emerged as the party with the most support following a sweep of southern Italy. The League won 18%, outperforming the traditional leader of the centre-right coalition in Italy, Forza Italia.

Italy has been in a state of flux since the election amid informal back room negotiations about which of the parties might form a governing alliance. There were early indications of a possible deal between the M5S and the centre-left Democratic party, but former prime minister Matteo Renzi, who has resigned as party leader, ruled out the possibility.

Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister and head of Forza Italia, won a small victory this weekend when one of his longtime allies, Elisabetta Casellati, a Forza Italia lawmaker, was chosen to serve as speaker of the Senate. The M5S’s Roberto Fico was chosen as president of the lower chamber.

Paolo Gentiloni, the current centre-left prime minister, formally resigned from his post on Saturday, but was asked to remain in place by the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, who will be mediating upcoming talks to form a new government.



