More talks on Italy’s political stalemate

ITALY’S PRESIDENT has set up a second round of talks to form a new government as the leaders of the two most successful parties in the last election vied to control the process despite lacking a parliamentary majority.

Even as both 5-Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio and rightwing League leader Matteo Salvini pledged to open their own coalition talks with other political groups, President Sergio Mattarella did not formally ask either yet to form a new government.

After two days of talks in Rome, the Italian president said no political force had garnered enough support to sustain a stable government.

He urged the country’s three main political forces, the victorious 5-Star Movement and the centre-right, as well as the defeated Democratic Party, to use the coming days “to responsibly evaluate the situation ... and the possible solutions to give life to a government”.

Mr Di Maio and Mr Salvini staked their competing claims based on the fact that the 5-Star Movement was the party with the most votes in the March 4 election, 32 per cent, while the centre-right bloc that Mr Salvini heads is the strongest political force, with 37 per cent of the vote.

Mr Di Maio told reporters after meeting with Mr Mattarella that he would explore forming a government either with Mr Salvini’s League, excluding the other two parties in the centre-right bloc, or with the Democratic Party, which has said its resounding electoral defeat places it in the opposition.

“The advantage of being a political force which is neither rightnor left-wing is to be free to talk with whomever really wants to do things,” Mr Di Maio said.