LIVEUPDATES: http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKBN13T06WItalian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi vowed to resign after suffering a crushing defeat on Sunday in a referendum on constitutional reform, tipping the euro zone's third-largest economy into political turmoil.
His decision to quit after just two and a half years in office deals a blow to the European Union, already reeling from multiple crises and struggling to overcome anti-establishment forces that have battered the Western world this year.
After a tumultuous night in Italy, Matteo Renzi will on Monday head to the Quirinal palace to submit his resignation to president Sergio Mattarella.
It is 14 months until the next elections are due, and it’s expected that Mattarella will attempt to pull together a caretaker prime minister – likely from from Renzi’s Democratic party – to serve until the February 2018 vote.
The populist Five Star Movement and the anti-immigrant Northern League want early elections – but have no power to make that happen.
Forza Italia, the right-wing party led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (yes, him), is less keen on a snap poll, Buzzfeed’s Alberto Nardelli says:
#MAKEITALYGREATAGAIN
