Italian president to ask caretaker PM Conte to form M5S-PD coalition govt

ROME - Italian president Sergio Mattarella will summon outgoing Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday in order to ask him to try to form a new coalition government.

"President Sergio Mattarella has summoned professor Giuseppe Conte tomorrow at 9:30 am (local time)," the president's office said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The latest development in the Italian political crisis came after negotiations between anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and center-left Democratic Party (PD) reached a positive, although still partial, result.

President Mattarella concluded a two-day second round of consultations with all parties in parliament on Wednesday, after the former right-wing government led by PM Conte -- and based on a coalition between the M5S and far-right League of Matteo Salvini -- collapsed last week.

Conte resigned on Aug 20, and was asked by the head of state to remain in office as caretaker of current affairs while consultations were taking place.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with the president in late afternoon, M5S leader Luigi Di Maio said his movement has come to an agreement with the PD to form a new government "led by Giuseppe Conte."

"We have always been a post-ideological movement, and we believe there are no leftist solutions or right-wing solutions, but just solutions," Di Maio said.

"Someone has accused us in latest years -- and according to the issue we were approaching at the time -- of belonging to this or that side (left or right), but we believe these schemes are widely outdated."

"Programs, topics, and choices are the true key factors in politics," the M5S leader added.

The leader of the other party involved in the new government try -- PD's Nicola Zingaretti -- expressed the same willingness earlier in the day.

After consulting with the president, Zingaretti confirmed the PD was open to have Conte trying to forge the basis for a new "political majority" with the M5S.

"We told the president we have accepted the M5S -- as the party holding a relative majority of seats in parliament -- suggesting the name (Conte) of the next prime minister, which they did in recent days," Zingaretti told journalists.

The latest crisis in the euro-zone's third-largest economy was triggered by League leader and former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who on Aug 8 publicly announced the governing majority no longer existed, and it was time to "go back to voters."

Soon after this declaration, Salvini submitted a no-confidence motion in parliament against his prime minister, claiming the action of the cabinet was no longer effective due to obstructionism of the M5S.

This move sparked the resignation of Conte, after he delivered a speech in senate severely criticizing the "irresponsible" political behavior of the League leader.