Italy's president accepts premier Conte's resignation

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - Italian President Sergio Mattarella late Tuesday has accepted Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's resignation.

Italy's Prime Minister Conte has formerly resigned over a political crisis that came with the country's Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's call for snap elections.

Following the crisis, Conte had announced in his speech earlier today that he would resign.

President Mattarella has called for consultation to find a solution to the crisis after he accepted Conte's resignation.

Tensions within the coalition between Salvini’s right-wing League party and the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) have recently mounted over an infrastructure project involving a high-speed rail link with France.

Both parties blamed each other for the deep divisions in the coalition, prompting Salvini to call for new elections.

M5S and the League party formed a coalition government on June 1, 2018 under the leadership of technocrat Conte.