The eve of Conte’s trip to the Swiss ski resort saw Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio step down from his post as head of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. Di Maio will keep his cabinet position.

Read More: Italy Coalition Girds for Succession Battle as Di Maio Quits

The move could undermine the government, according to members of both Five Star and the center-left Democratic Party, the other main coalition partner. It also scuppered any realistic hope Conte might have had of projecting a business-as-usual image in Davos had he opted for the trip.

The 55-year-old premier, a Florence lawyer who had no political experience before leading a previous alliance of Five Star and the rightist League of Matteo Salvini, intended to focus a Thursday afternoon speech in Davos on burnishing Italy’s environmental credentials and touting incentives for sustainable development projects, according to the official.

His agenda might have also included a meeting with the owners of ArcelorMittal, with whom his government is negotiating to salvage the European Union’s biggest steel mill in Taranto in southern Italy.

Instead, Conte will have to focus on the mounting tensions within the coalition ahead of crucial regional elections.

Historical Stronghold

Sunday’s vote in the northern Emilia Romagna region could see Salvini’s League defeat the Democratic Party in one of its historical strongholds, triggering chaos within the parties and upsetting investors.

Ever the optimist, Conte has played down potential fallout from the elections.

“I’m not at all worried about going back to being a university professor because it’s a beautiful job,” Conte told reporters Wednesday on a visit to Florence. “I believe it’s absolutely improbable that will happen from Monday.”

Weighing in favor of preserving Conte’s government is the same fear that first prompted his new alliance – that Salvini’s center-right bloc would handily win snap elections.

That glue may still hold. Surveys show Salvini and his allies, the far-right Brothers of Italy and the Forza Italia party of ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi, at about 48% of the vote. Support for the Democrats is at 19%, and Five Star comes in at 16%.

Limited Room

While Conte’s room for maneuver is limited by his own lack of a political base, he’s managed to amass some clout in his almost two years in power.

Opinion polls show he remains the most popular political figure in Italy, ahead of Salvini. Nicola Zingaretti, leader of the Democrats, signaled last month that Conte could become the party’s candidate for the premiership in a future election, hailing him as “authoritative, tactically fast and wise” and “a very strong point of reference for all progressive forces.”

An independent figure, Conte was initially chosen by Five Star as premier for his first term, and has since drifted from the party as he carved out a role as mediator between allies.

To stem the political turmoil, the premier is eager to kick-start talks with coalition parties to draft what he calls Agenda 2023, a new government program to steer the legislature to the end of its term. Conte’s priorities include tax cuts, boosting private and state investment and speeding up the byzantine justice system.

Worst Enemies

Still, he will likely have to reckon with more bloodletting within Five Star, which has seen more than 20 lawmakers quit or expelled from the party since his government was sworn in last September.

Highlighting the divisions within Five Star, Di Maio in his resignation speech lashed out at his internal critics.

“The worst enemies are the ones on the inside, with whom you had fought for shared values,” said Di Maio. He’ll be temporarily replaced by Vito Crimi, deputy interior minister, ahead of a party congress in March.