Italy’s coalition-building runs into trouble

if it was going to be simple. Voters last month handed the right its first clear parliamentary majority since 2008. And since the Brothers of Italy (d) party won far more votes and seats than the other parties in the conservatives’ alliance, it was clear that its leader, Giorgia Meloni, would be prime minister. All they had to do was share the spoils of victory: the cabinet posts and speakerships.Yet by October 20th, when President Sergio Mattarella was due to start the consultations that precede the formation of a new government, doubts were rife about the stability of the next administration and its readiness to join Italy’s traditional allies in standing up to Russia. The reason? One that has bedevilled Italian politics for almost 30 years: Silvio Berlusconi’s legal problems. The 86-year-old Mr Berlusconi—yet again on trial, this time for allegedly bribing witnesses—wants the justice portfolio for his party, Forza Italia. Ms Meloni would prefer that it went to a retired prosecutor.