Rome (CNN) Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will resign on Tuesday morning, his office said in a statement on Monday, heightening political turmoil in the country as it battles Covid-19. "The Council of Ministers is convened for tomorrow morning at 9 am, during which the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, will communicate to the ministers his will to go to the (Presidential Palace) and hand in his resignation," the statement read. But he lost his governing majority in the Senate after his predecessor, Matteo Renzi, decided to withdraw the small Italia Viva party from Conte's ruling coalition over frustrations with the government's management of the Covid-19 pandemic and attendant economic recession. President Mattarella can choose whether to accept Conte's resignation, and is likely to invite him to try to build a new governing majority. If Conte receives the mandate to form a new majority, he would need to add five more senators to his existing coalition.

Source: CNN January 25, 2021 21:00 UTC