
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 14, 1994                   TAG: 9401140147
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: ROME                                LENGTH: Short

ITALIAN GOVERNMENT RESIGNS

The government of Prime Minister Carlo Ciampi resigned Thursday, clearing the way for early national elections that could revolutionize Italy's politics and allow the former Communists to share power for the first time.

President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro accepted Ciampi's resignation and is expected to dissolve parliament over the weekend. Ciampi, 73, a former central banker with no political allegiances, is likely to continue as a caretaker premier until new elections are held, probably in late March.

The demise of Ciampi's government was widely anticipated after he declared last month that its work was finished and that a new parliament should be elected under a "first past the post" format that will replace the proportional system often blamed for Italy's perennial political gridlock.

- The Washington Post

by CNB