Italy's week-long simmering political crisis finally boiled over on Saturday when the Prime Minister, Mr Massimo D'Alema, formally handed in his resignation to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
This most Italian of government crisis, however, could well be over by this evening when President Ciampi is likely to call on Mr D'Alema to succeed himself, and form Italy's 57th government of the post-war period. The current 14-month old centre-left executive has been in crisis for the last 10 days following a call for Mr D'Alema's resignation from the small Socialist Party, a partner in the government coalition.
At stake in the complex internecine feud are not only short-term considerations concerning cabinet positions and power broking within the 11-party centre-left coalition but also the question of who should lead the centre-left both in regional elections next spring and at the next general election scheduled for 2001.
When the crisis first broke, Mr D'Alema had been tempted to resign immediately. However, acting on the advice of both President Ciampi and of senior figures in the coalition, he agreed to postpone his resignation until the 2000 budget bill had been approved by parliament.
It was only after the budget had been finally ratified by the Senate on Saturday afternoon that Mr D'Alema resigned.
President Ciampi has urged a perfunctory end to the crisis. It is therefore expected that as early as this evening, the president will give Mr D'Alema a mandate to form a new centre-left government, which will then face a crucial parliamentary conference motion, probably on Thursday.
Without the support of the Socialists, the Republican Party and those deputies loyal to the "Triofoglio" group led by the former state president, Senator Francesco Cossiga, the new D'Alema government votes could be down to just 316 members in the 630-seat lower house. The centre-right opposition forces can muster 297 votes, but much will depend on whether dissident centre-left deputies abstain or vote against the government.