New round of talks for Italian government from Thursday

Rome, April 10 (IANS/AKI) Italy's President Sergio Mattarella will on Thursday resume consultations with parliamentary party leaders on a new government, the presidential Quirinale palace said on Tuesday.

Mattarella's first meeting will be with the centre-left Democratic Party, which came third in last month's inconclusive national polls. It has the numbers in parliament to play kingmaker in the formation of a coalition government but has so far vowed to go into opposition.

He will then hold talks with the centre-right alliance - the biggest parliamentary group - which is claiming first bid to try and form a government.

The populist Five-Star Movement - the party with most parliamentary seats which also claims the right to form a government - has the last slot on Friday to meet Mattarella, according to the Quirinale.

Earlier on Thursday, Mattarella will meet representatives of Italy's smaller parties, the Quirinale said.

On Friday, Mattarella will meet his predecessor Giorgio Napolitano, followed by lower house of parliament's Speaker Roberto Fico from Five-Star and Senate speaker Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati from the centre-right Forza Italia party, the Quirinale said.

Two days of consultations last week failed to break the political deadlock after the March 4 national election led to a hung parliament.

League leader Matteo Savini - whose party is the largest in the centre-right alliance - has urged fresh polls if Five-Star leader Luigi di Maio refuses to govern with the centre-right due to Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi's tax fraud conviction or to compromise on the role of premier.

Mattarella, on the other hand, is keen to avoid more elections this year and wants to have a workable coalition government in place by a European Union heads of state and government summit taking place in Brussels on June 28, La Repubblica daily reported on Monday.

--IANS/AKI

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