Italy faces fresh elections as negotiations stall

Italy is facing the prospect of fresh national elections after the third round of official negotiations to form a functional coalition government failed.

Italian president Sergio Mattarella called an end to formal talks on Monday, more than two months after national elections resulted in a hung parliament.

Mattarella has signalled that there are two options left for Italy – fresh national elections, or the installation of a neutral caretaker government until the end of the year, to allow parties to negotiate the end of the political deadlock that has crippled the Italian government.

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“We can’t wait any longer,” he said. “Let the parties decide of their own free will if they should give full powers to a government... or else new elections in the month of July or the autumn.”

The 4 March election resulted in a three-way split of influence in the Italian parliament. The centre-right League coalition which includes Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia group won about 37% of the vote, followed by the Five Star Movement on around 32%. The centre-left Democratic Party came in third.

Mattarella has since tried “various combinations among the parties in an effort to find a coalition that could secure a parliamentary majority”, says The Wall Street Journal.

The two “most influential parties, Five Star and The League, favour a new vote in July”, says the BBC.