ROME, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Government formation talks in Italy between the populist Five Star Movement and the center-left Democratic Party are underway, Lower House Speaker Roberto Fico announced Thursday.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella, whose job is to name Italy's next prime minister after an inconclusive March 4 election, earlier this week tasked Fico with a so-called "exploratory mandate" to try to form a government with the Democratic Party of outgoing Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.
In televised comments after reporting back to Mattarella, Fico said that "the exploratory mandate has had a positive outcome".
"The dialogue between the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party is underway," said Fico, who held talks with Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio and with Democratic Party chief Maurizio Martina earlier in the day.
"We recognize that important steps forward have been made," Martina said after meeting with Fico. "At the same time, we can't conceal the difficulties and differences (between us and the Five Star Movement)."
Martina added that the Democratic Party directorate will meet on May 3 in order to "collectively decide if and how" to proceed.
"We are not talking about denying our differences," Di Maio commented. "I hope common sense will prevail," he added.
Italy has been in a political stalemate since the election delivered two relative winners: a center-right bloc led by the rightwing, anti-immigrant League, which also includes ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's moderate Forza Italia party with 37 percent of the vote; and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement with 32.5 percent.
Voters also delivered a crushing defeat to the Democrats, who got 17 percent of the vote.
Neither the center-right bloc nor the Five Stars won enough seats in parliament to form a government on their own, and talks between them have proven fruitless as the two sides bickered over mutually incompatible demands.
Italy's two houses of parliament -- the 315-member senate and the 630-seat lower house -- have equal powers, and both must vote their confidence in any new government.
General elections in Italy are supposed to be held every five years. However, the country has a history of shaky coalition governments that fall apart long before the end of their mandate.
