Pier Luigi Bersani asked to form government after shaky Italian elections

Pier Luigi Bersani has the weekend to form a government in Italy after the country’s inconclusive election has left the nation in political limbo for the past month.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano today asked Bersani, leader of the Democratic Party, to tackle the task and report back early next week.

Yet, observers suggest there is little chance Bersani will succeed.

“We’re going through procedural pleasantries at the moment, as the president had to offer Bersani the opportunity of a few days to seek a majority,” political analyst Duncan McDonnell told the Wall Street Journal. “We know he will not be able to form a government.”

Italians were unable to elect a majority government when they went to the polls in late February.

Preventing a coalition government is comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo. His upstart Five Star Movement won one-quarter of the vote in third place. 

Grillo has refused to support traditional parties, BBC said.

Bersani’s center-left Democratic Party controls Italy’s lower house, but not the senate.

He earlier ruled out collaborating with former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose center-right coalition finished second.

Bersani said he accepts the task, and will “try to find balance,” The Associated Press reported.

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