ROME, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Italian outgoing Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was expected to be asked to try and form a new government on Sunday, media reports said.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella officially summoned Gentiloni to the presidential palace at 12:30 p.m., the president's office said.
It was a strong signal that the Italian head of state would ask him to replace outgoing Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
The call came at the end of three days of political consultations Mattarella run with all party leaders, in order to find a new prime minister after Renzi tendered his resignation on Dec. 7.
Renzi stepped down after losing a crucial referendum on a constitutional reform backed by his cabinet on Dec. 4.
Gentiloni, 62, is considered a staunched ally of Renzi within center-left Democratic Party (PD), which is the largest force in parliament. He was named foreign minister in Oct. 2014, and he had been a member of previous governments since mid-2000s.
If given the mandate, Gentiloni would start consultations with other political forces in order to form a new cabinet.
The next government might not remain in charge until the end of the legislature term in Feb. 2018, however, because all opposition forces have called for early elections.
After ending political talks on Saturday, the country's president had promised he would make a decision to solve the on-going government crisis soon.
"The country needs a full-functioning government in a short space of time," Mattarella told a press conference.
He also restated a change in the current electoral system was a necessary precondition to early elections.
"From these meetings has emerged, as a priority, a general need to harmonize the two laws ruling over the election of the lower house and of the senate, an indispensable condition to proceed with elections," Mattarella said.
If this task is fulfilled, early elections might be called in spring 2017.
