Leader of 5-Star Movement (M5S) and Foreign...>

ITALY: Leader of 5-Star Movement (M5S) and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio due to

attend party summit today, with speculation that he will announce his

resignation as party head. 

- Summit due to start at 1000CET (0900GMT, 0400ET, 1700HKT). 

- Comes in the wake of 2 further defections from M5S in the Chamber of Deputies

yesterday evening. This adds to stream of defections from M5S in Chamber and

Senate in recent weeks and months. 

- Should Di Maio resign, this is unlikely to have notable impact on regional

elections being held Sun 26 Jan. M5S playing a minor role in both votes, with

main contest between right-wing League and centre-left Democrats. 

- Di Maio could seek to stay on as Foreign Minister/parliamentary leader. Should

he do so, it could risk two camps emerging at top of M5S, one around new leader

and one around Di Maio. 

- M5S tumbling in opinion polls, down to around 15-16%, from 22-23% in Sep 19.

As such, unlikely to favour snap election - risk losing power. Nevertheless,

unstructured nature of party lends itself to political volatility.