Italy may go for poll as parties still far apart

NO COALITION : Without a deal president could call July vote

ROME: The prospect of an election re-run in Italy grew on Monday as President Sergio Mattarella held a final round of consultations to try to break two months of political deadlock with party leaders still far apart.

The head of the far-right League, Matteo Salvini, said he had asked Mattarella to give him a mandate to try to form a government as chief of a centre-right alliance that won the most seats at the inconclusive March 4 election.

“We trust that the president will give us the chance to find a majority in parliament,” Salvini said after seeing Mattarella.

However, the centre-right is some 50 seats short of majority and a source in the president’s office said that without a clear political deal, Mattarella is more likely to try to form a neutral government acceptable to a broad range of parties.

But it was far from certain whether such an administration could win a vote of confidence needed to get off the ground.

Both the League and the antiestablishment 5-Star Movement, Italy’s single largest party, have been hostile to the idea.

With a mesh of seemingly rigid vetoes still in place, the presidential source said there was a growing possibility that a repeat election could be held as early as July, when many Italians will have already left for their summer holidays.

This would be unprecedented in Italy, where in the post-war period elections have always been held in the spring.

5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio said after meeting Mattarella that he had reiterated his offer to form a government with the League, by which the two parties would jointly decide on a mutually acceptable prime minister.

However, he stuck to his refusal

5-Star refuses to enter into any coalition deal with the League’s main ally, the Forza Italia party led by Berlusconi (pictured), who 5-Star considers a symbol of political corruption

to enter into any coalition deal with the League’s main ally, the Forza Italia party led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who 5-Star considers a symbol of political corruption.

Salvini has so far refused to split with Berlusconi.

“We will not support any technocrat government,” Di Maio said, insisting that an early election was the only alternative if the League continued to reject its demands.

The centre-left Democratic Party, which was badly beaten in March after five years in power, has refused to negotiate with any other parties directly but appears willing to back an eventual technocrat cabinet put together by Mattarella.