Rome, April 23: Italy's president Sergio Mattarella on Monday asked the lower house of parliament's Speaker Roberto Fico to hold talks with the populist Five-Star Movement and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) in a fresh bid to form a government after the inconclusive March 4 national election.
Mattarella "has given the task of verifying the scope for a possible parliamentary majority between the Five-Star Movement and the PD with a view to forming a government," presidential palace spokesman Ugo Zampetti told journalists.
Fico has "until Thursday" to report back to Mattarella on his efforts, he added.
Five-Star emerged as the largest parliamentary party in last month's election in which the far-right League party also made strong gains.
The centre-left coalition led by outgoing leader Matteo Renzi came third in the ballot - well behind the centre-right alliance and Five-Star - and the PD won 18.72 percent of votes in its worst-ever electoral result.
Three previous rounds of consultations this month with Italy's main parties failed amid a mesh of seemingly irreconcilable political demands.
The League, the dominant party in the centre-right bloc - which has the most seats in parliament - and Five-Star have both claimed first bid to form a government. But the PD - which had vowed to into opposition after its hammering at the polls - has the numbers in parliament to play kingmaker.
No party or bloc has a clear majority in the hung parliament that resulted from the election.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
