Italy's rightist coalition splits over electing Senate speaker

Newly elected Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa gives his first speech in the upper house of parliament in Rome, Italy, October 13, 2022. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

ROME (Reuters) -Italy's new rightist coalition got off to an inauspicious start on Thursday when it split over the election of the Senate speaker, who clinched the post despite a revolt by Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.

The alliance led by Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy group has been struggling to agree over Cabinet posts ever since it easily won the Sept. 25 election, and it failed its first public test of unity in the Senate vote.