Gentiloni named as Italy's new prime minister

Gentiloni named as Italy's new prime minister

Paolo Gentiloni has been named as Italy's new prime minister following Matteo Renzi's resignation in the wake of a referendum defeat.

Mr Gentiloni, who had been Mr Renzi's foreign minister, was asked by President Sergio Mattarella to form a new government that will guide Italy to elections due by February 2018, a presidency spokesman announced.

Mr Renzi resigned last week after losing a referendum on constitutional reform on which he had staked his job, plunging Italy into a government crisis.

The next moves for Mr Gentiloni, a former journalist and Renzi loyalist, are a familiar process in Italy, which has had 63 governments in the past 70 years.

After formally receiving the mandate from Mr Mattarella at the meeting, he will begin consultations with political forces to form a government.

Mr Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) has a majority in both houses of parliament but the PD itself is severely divided between Renzi backers, such as Mr Gentiloni, and opponents.

All major parties have called for elections as soon as possible.

But before any vote can take place, Italy needs a new electoral law to replace one that applies only to the lower house and could be declared illegitimate in January by the Constitutional Court.

The legislature is due to carry on until 2018, but early elections could be called at any time after parliament rewrites the electoral law.

Mr Gentiloni will report back to President Mattarella on his progress in rallying support and, if he cannot assemble political backing for a new government, Mr Mattarella could ask someone else to try.

If Mr Gentiloni is successful, a new government could be installed within days.

The next incumbent immediately faces a crisis in the banking sector, whose third-largest lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena may need state intervention to avoid collapse.