Italy's parliament debut ends in deadlock, infighting

ROME, March 23 (Xinhua) -- The debut of Italy's newly elected parliament ended in failure to break a deadlock and infighting on Friday.

The 315-member Senate and the 630-seat Lower House must each elect a speaker in what is a kind of test drive in the Italian process of forming a new government, because it shows which political forces are capable of agreement.

The session ended with infighting within the center-right bloc, which is led by the anti-immigrant, rightwing League and includes the more moderate conservative Forza Italia party of media mogul Silvio Berlusconi.

The other major player is the populist, euroskeptic Five Star Movement, with the center-left Democratic Party of outgoing Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in the opposition after a crushing defeat in the March 4 general election.

Because no single party or coalition won enough seats to form a government on its own, the relative winners must negotiate with each other to break the deadlock and find common ground -- which they were unable to do on Friday.

League leader Matteo Salvini and Five Star Movement chief Luigi Di Maio both claim the right to be the next prime minister of Italy.

Both have pledged to crack down on immigration, roll back unpopular pension reforms, introduce drastic tax cuts and generous welfare policies, and break European Union rules on public spending.

The two houses of parliament reconvene on Saturday to continue the process of trying to elect their speakers.

After the speakers are chosen, it will be up to President Sergio Mattarella to give one of the political forces a mandate to try to form a government. This process could take weeks, if not months, of talks. Enditem