President Sergio Mattarella called
Senate Speaker Elisabetta Alberti Casellati to his office on
Wednesday and gave her a mandate to see if it is possible to end
Italy's post-election political deadlock.
Italy does not look close to having a new government a month
and a half after its inconclusive election on March 4.
Last week Mattarella said the political parties had not made
significant progress towards the formation of a new government
after a second round of formal political consultations.
The head of State department's Secretary General Ugo Zampetti
said Casellati had been given the task of "verifying the
existence of parliamentary majority between the parties of the
centre-right coalition and the M5S".
The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), the biggest
single party in the new parliament, has so far refused to do a
deal with the whole centre right, the biggest coalition.
The M5S has called on the anti-migrant, Euroskeptic League,
the lead party in the centre right, to drop its ally, Silvio
Berlusconi's Forza Italia, to make a deal possible, but so far
it has refused.
Zampetti said Casellati, an FI member, had been requested to
give "an agreed-on indication for the awarding of a mandate of
premier to form the government.
"The president asked the Senate Speaker to report back by
Friday," he added.
The centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which has led the last
three Italian governments, has said it will be in the opposition
after it slumped to its worst-ever showing in last month's vote.
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