Leaders of Italy’s two main parties have made their opening gambits towards forming a new government after an election deadlock that saw voters reject European-backed austerity and a discredited political elite.
Pier Luigi Bersani, Democratic party leader, laid claim yesterday to the post of prime minister on the basis that his centre-left coalition had won the most votes in both houses of parliament, even though it fell well short of a majority in the senate.
But after the shock result on Monday that showed a surge in support for comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement, Mr Bersani admitted: “We did not win, even though we came first.”
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