Italian president approaching decision on new premier

ROME (AP)

(1 of 2) Cuirassiers presidential guards stand at the Quirinale Palace in Rome, Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016. Italian President Sergio Mattarella, as head of state, has been opening formal consultations as he weighs who should get the mandate to try to form a new government. (Claudio Onorati/ANSA via AP)

December 10, 2016

Included on President Sergio Mattarella's schedule of back-to-back meetings were delegations from the top two opposition forces, the populist 5-Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo and the center-right Forza Italia party led by media mogul and former Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Like other opposition parties which Mattarella sounded out, Forza Italia is pressing for elections as soon as possible. Renzi resigned on Dec. 7, following an embarrassing defeat for his proposed reforms in a referendum.

Berlusconi said Parliament should rapidly overhaul the electoral law, which nearly all political forces say needs reform, then "let Italians express themselves with their vote and decide finally who they want" to govern them.

Berlusconi, elected to the premiership for a third time in 2008, is Italy's last elected premier. The next three were all appointed by Mattarella's predecessor as head of state. Among those being touted as likely choices for Mattarella are Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, a staunch Renzi supporter, and Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, an economist.

A former Berlusconi supporter, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, now Renzi's key coalition ally, conferred with Mattarella. He then told reporters that if necessary his centrists would be "very favorable" for a fresh mandate for Renzi, who is also Democratic Party leader.

The crisis threatening long-troubled Italian bank Monti dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), which direly needs to raise new capital, piled on pressure for a new government. If private investors aren't found, the Italian government might have to bail out MPS.

"It's evident that the banking front is one of the matters that makes it important to have a fully operative government" soon, said Enrico Zanetti, deputy economy ministry in Renzi's now caretaker government.

Mattarella would likely give the next premier the task of quickly guiding Parliament through approval of a new electoral law as well as solving the banking crisis. Financial markets and European Union partners are growing anxious over Italian banks laden with bad loans.