Italy's president held crisis talks yesterday to determine whether Romano Prodi, who resigned after losing a Senate vote, has enough support to be reappointed prime minister or must be replaced.
"We're a country of madmen," said Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema to one newspaper after Mr Prodi unexpectedly stepped down on Wednesday following a foreign policy defeat in the Senate.
After winning the narrowest election in post-war history to lead the 61st government since 1945, Mr Prodi quit after nine months in the wake of a revolt by the left in his Catholics-to-communists alliance.
Mr Prodi and Mr D'Alema, who both had previous spells as prime minister cut short, know Italy is accustomed to revolving-door politics, which explains why financial markets could largely shrug off the latest convulsion.
President Giorgio Napolitano, an 81-year-old ex-communist, must now end the impasse while Mr Prodi stays as caretaker leader.
Mr Napolitano scheduled more than two dozen consultations with party and parliamentary leaders over yesterday and today, which one paper called a game of "Russian roulette" for Mr Prodi.
"Any attempt to resuscitate the Prodi government will fail from the outset," said Silvio Berlusconi, the media tycoon who hopes to return to power if an election is held. "The left has never had a majority in this country and never will."
Mr Berlusconi was the first post-war premier to serve a full five years, although he had to resign and reform his government due to infighting.
What's next?
Will there be an election? This is considered highly unlikely. Calling an election is just one of several options before Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. He will not dissolve parliament if he decides Romani Prodi can govern with a firm majority or there is backing in parliament for a government led by someone else.
Does Mr Prodi want to be prime minister? Yes, but not at all costs. He says he will only carry on if he gets guarantees from all the ruling parties that they will stop their infighting. Policy divisions run deep and it is hard to see how such guarantees could be credible. Mr Prodi no longer has a majority in the Senate, so to carry on he would likely have to persuade some people on the centre-right to join his coalition.
What other choices are there? If Mr Napolitano is not convinced that Mr Prodi can muster a solid majority he could choose a "technical" government of non-partisan experts with support across the right-left political divide. Such a party would exclude the extremes on both sides, like the communists and the Northern League.
What is the most likely outcome? Hard to say. This is a particularly difficult political crisis by Italian standards and there is no obvious way out. There is no guarantee Mr Prodi can persuade opposition Senators to swap camps. It is also hard to see which parties will back down from their current policy stances in response to Mr Prodi's demand for new guarantees of discipline from the coalition parties. A technical government would need to recruit non-partisan experts and analysts say it would be hard for them to build a majority among Italy's divergent political parties. Fresh elections are opposed by all parties on the centre-left, which lags in the polls, and the centre-right is badly divided and does not have a recognised leader. Mr Napolitano would also fear political instability if a new ballot were held under the same electoral system - which many blame for the current crisis.
When will the crisis be resolved? Mr Napolitano will end his consultations with party delegations today after talks with his predecessor, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, beginning at 1640 GMT. If he asks Mr Prodi to carry on, Mr Prodi would face confidence votes in both houses, which could be held in a matter of days. A big shake-up could prolong the crisis for weeks.