Renzi is expected to seek the support of the PD to remain party leader, a role that would give him a say on who replaces him. Italy is not scheduled to hold legislative elections until 2018.
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Between Friday – before voters would decide whether to reduce the powers of regional governments and the Italian Senate, a reform Renzi pledged to resign over if rejected – and Monday, the euro fell 1.2 percent against the dollar, to $1.0542 from $1.0672, before rising almost 2 percent Monday morning, to $1.0735.
The two largest opposition parties, the eurosceptic, anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the right-wing Northern League, are both pushing hard for elections.
“The ball’s in President Sergio Mattarella’s court”, Renato Brunetta, a parliament whip for former Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s opposition Forza Italia party, said.
On Wednesday, Renzi said the PD would only participate in a government meant to last until 2018 if it was backed by the main forces in parliament, a prospect a lot of them have already ruled out. The Guardian noted that the referendum was among a series of votes in Europe that could “conceivably herald the end of the European project in its current form”. Renzi kept his pledge that he’d step down if the referendum failed.
The most immediate concern is Italy’s banking sector with the country’s major lenders drowning in bad debt.
Architas investment director Adrian Lowcock says markets have taken the result in their stride and the result is now seen an Italian issue, not a wider eurozone one.
Polls are open Sunday for 16 hours starting at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT).
It was unclear when Renzi might return to the Quirinal presidential palace to formally resign following the rejection by voters of constitutional reforms he had championed.
The government has already won a vote of confidence on the budget in the lower house of parliament, but needs the senate’s nod when it votes on it on Wednesday.
The PD’s top brass will meet on Wednesday to discuss the referendum defeat.
Even after this result, Renzi will still be able to influence Italian politics because his party still has enough members of the parliament to rule the country.
“Considering the need to complete the parliamentary approval of the budget law to stave off risks of (emergency budget procedures), the president of the republic has asked the prime minister to defer his resignation and hand it in once the task is fulfilled”, Mattarella’s office said. Those talks could start over the weekend.
Mr Renzi had first offered his resignation on Monday, shortly after voters rejected the constitutional reforms his centre-left government had championed.
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The turnout is on par with the European elections in May 2014, when 20.48 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots by noon.
