Italian Elections: The next step

(Vatican Radio) The Italian stock market fell and state borrowing costs rose on Tuesday as investors reacted to the political deadlock following the country’s general election. The poll resulted in no group having a clear majority in parliament. Silvio Berlusconi indicated his centre-right might be open to a grand coalition with the centre-left bloc of Pier Luigi Bersani.

Any coalition government that may be formed must have a working majority in both the upper and lower houses in order to pass legislation.

“The institutional deadlines are that in two weeks time the two houses will assemble, they’ll elect speakers and only after that will the President look for a potential Prime Minister,” says James Walston, Professor of International Relations at The American University of Rome.

He also adds that, “in the intervening two weeks there will be a lot of negotiation going on”.

Professor Walston says a possibility could be an interim government which would look after normal administration, with Italians going back to the polls again at a later date during the year. Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s interview with Professor James Walston: