Rome April 25 (IANS/AKI) The centre-right no longer has any hope of forming a coalition government in Italy the populist Five Star Movement s leader Luigi Di Maio said on Tuesday after talks with lower house of parliament Speaker Roberto Fico aimed at ending Italy s post-election political stalemate.
"It s clear that a centre-right government is no longer a plausible hypothesis.
"I urge the (centre-left) Democratic Party to come to the negotiating table to see if the conditions exist to work together " he said.
The Democratic Party s acting Secretary Maurizio Martina said on Tuesday after meeting Fico that it would "deepen" exploratory talks on a government with Five-Star "in a spirit of cooperation and without hiding our differences".
Italy s President Sergio Mattarella has asked Fico to hold three days of talks with Five-Star and the Democratic Party to asses the scope for a coalition. He is due to report back to Mattarella on Thursday with his findings.
A previous round of consultations last week between Senate Speaker Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati the centre-right alliance and Five-Star failed owing to Di Maio s refusal to govern with the far-right League party s conservative ally Forza Italia due to its leader Silvio Berlusconi s tax fraud conviction and current bribery trial.
The conservative alliance including the League and Forza Italia won the most seats in last month s polls and Five-Star became the largest party in the hung parliament while the Democratic Party has enough seats to play kingmaker.
The Democratic Party is divided over a possible tie-up with Five-Star - many of its lawmakers oppose the idea and believe the party should go into opposition after losing the election. It had governed Italy since 2013.
--IANS/AKI
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