Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will resign as secretary-general of the Democratic Party after the party secured less than 20 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election, Italian newswire ANSA reported Monday.

Populist, anti-establishment parties were the big winners of Sunday’s Italian election, winning a combined total of more than 50 percent of the vote. Almost half of the Democratic Party’s ministers lost their seats, as support for the party dropped to unprecedented levels. </s> Italy's Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi speaks during a news conference in Brussels, Belgium April 28, 2017. Reuters/Eric Vidal Rome: Former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi was Sunday poised to win the leadership of Italy's ruling Democratic Party in a primary election, propelling him back to the forefront of the national political scene.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Peninsula. </s> ROME (Reuters) - Matteo Renzi, the head of Italy’s Democratic Party, resigned on Monday following a humiliating defeat in national elections.

Renzi, 43, also said he believed the party should not make any post-election pacts with “extremist parties” and will be in opposition to the next government. </s> Matteo Renzi, former Italian prime minister and leader of the Democratic Party | Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images Renzi resigns as PD leader after Italian election blow ‘It’s obvious that I must leave the helm of the Democratic Party,’ said former PM.

Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned as leader of the Democratic Party (PD) on Monday following the party's defeat in Sunday's election.

"It's obvious that I must leave the helm of the Democratic Party," said Renzi, 43, who led the country from 2014 to 2016.

He added that the center-left group must now "turn a new page" after suffering a "clear defeat."

“We will be in the opposition; the PD will never act as a front for government made up of anti-systemic forces,” Renzi told reporters. He added that three things distinguish the PD from the anti-establishment 5Star Movement and far-right League: "Their anti-Europeanism, their anti-politics and the verbal hatred they have directed" at Democratic Party members.”

According to preliminary results, the PD looked set to come third with about 19 percent of the vote — less than half their peak at the European elections in 2014 — while the 5Star Movement emerged as the single largest party with more than 32 percent.

Renzi's popularity, and support for his party, suffered the consequences of Italy's slow economic recovery and persistently high unemployment. Once nicknamed il rottamatore (the bulldozer) for his reformist zeal, the former mayor of Florence bet his political career on a referendum to change the constitution in 2016 — and lost.

After Sunday's inconclusive vote, no single party or coalition looks likely to be able to collect enough votes to govern alone, which could result in a hung parliament. </s> Former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi has bounced back to the forefront of national politics with a resounding primary election win to regain leadership of the ruling Democratic Party (PD).

Renzi won 70.01 percent of votes in a internal party ballot of 1.85 million people, according to final tallies Monday.

This represented an emphatic victory for the 42-year-old, although turnout was well down on the 2.8 million who voted in his successful campaign of 2013 and also below the three million of previous primary contests.

Renzi’s rivals — Justice Minister Andrea Orlando and Michele Emiliano, governor of the southern region of Puglia, both from the party’s left wing, garnered 19.5 percent and 10.4 percent respectively.

“It is a huge responsibility. I thank from the bottom of my heart those men and women who believe in Italy,” tweeted Renzi after it became clear he had won handsomely.

Renzi resigned as prime minister in December after Italians overwhelmingly rejected a constitutional referendum aimed at streamlining the parliamentary system.

In February he quit the leadership of the centre-left PD and sought a new mandate in the teeth of internal opposition.

Armed with his new mandate, he will now go much strengthened into parliamentary elections due by early next year at the latest, insisting his win “is the beginning of a completely new story.”

Italian media predicted Renzi would push for an earlier election, in October, seeking to surf on what he hopes will be pro-EU wave both in France this weekend and then in Germany.

However, an early vote first requires MPs to agree on electoral reforms.

In office, Renzi managed to deliver significant labour market reforms and modest growth, while legally recognising gay relationships for the first time.

But the recovery was not strong enough to pay any real political dividends and he alienated many on his party’s far-left, who broke away in February to form the Progressive and Democratic Movement (DP).

In a solitary television debate with his rivals before the vote, Renzi vowed to “bring back energy, momentum and vigour to the country”, railing against “stagnation that seems to be blocking political and institutional life” since the referendum.

The debate highlighted key differences over national politics, including on a wealth tax which he opposes.

– In Macron’s footsteps –

 Renzi, who has often cited the “Yes we can” slogan of former US president Barack Obama, is also a supporter of French centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, who quit the Socialist Party to found his own centrist movement “En Marche” (On the Move).

Macron on Monday tweeted congratulations to the Italian.

“Bravo to Matteo Renzi, likewise on the move. Let’s change Europe together with all progressives,” wrote the French presidential favourite.

“Thank you dear Emmanuel! We are with you. Vive la France, vive l’Europe (which we are going to change together),” Renzi replied in French.

Should the upcoming legislative election require the formation of a coalition, Orlando and Emiliano say they would seek to govern with left-wing defectors or other parties on the left.

Renzi, meanwhile, has not ruled out forming an alliance with centre-right leader and former premier Silvio Berlusconi.

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Also, Like us on facebook </s> Matteo Renzi, staging a political comeback less than five months after resigning as Italy's prime minister, easily regained the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party (PD) on Sunday with an overwhelming victory in a primary election among party supporters.

ROME: Matteo Renzi, staging a political comeback less than five months after resigning as Italy's prime minister, easily regained the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party (PD) on Sunday with an overwhelming victory in a primary election among party supporters.

According to partial results, Renzi had about 72 percent of the vote, held in makeshift polling booths around the country. About 2 million party members voted in the primary. Justice Minister Andrea Orlando had 19 percent while Michele Emiliano, the governor of the southern Puglia region, had about 9 percent.

Both of his opponents, as well as Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, called to congratulate him, and Renzi gave a long victory speech at party headquarters.

"Forward together," Renzi said to applause.

Renzi, 42, resigned as prime minister in December after a crushing defeat in a referendum over constitutional reforms aimed at streamlining lawmaking. He was replaced by Gentiloni, his foreign minister, but he quickly began planning a comeback.

With a national vote due by May 2018, polls show the ruling PD has slipped behind the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which questions the country's euro membership. Renzi's ability to counter the 5-Star surge may be crucial to fending off an existential threat to the euro zone.

However, under Italy's proportional representation voting system, no party currently looks likely to win enough seats in parliament to govern alone.

Renzi, with his confrontational leadership style, has become a divisive figure, and there is no guarantee he would be named prime minister of a future coalition government even if the PD were to win the most votes during the election.

While Renzi remains the most popular politician among PD voters, the party and his own appeal look much weaker than during his heyday as prime minister, after he failed to convert his ambitious reform agenda into reality.

Renzi's current personal approval rating is about half of the 50 percent he posted three years ago, according to the Ixe polling institute.

Polls show 5-Star now has around 30 percent of the vote and a lead of between 3 and 8 percentage points over the PD after a dispute between Renzi's loyalists and left-wing traditionalists caused a party split in February.

"I voted for Renzi because he's got more drive and determination than the others, but I'm not convinced he'll get back into government," said computer engineer Luigi Mancini, a PD supporter in Rimini on the Adriatic coast.

"With the (proportional representation) voting system we've got, it seems unlikely that anyone will get a majority," he added. </s> Italians voted yesterday overwhelmingly to elect Matteo Renzi as the new head of the ruling Democratic Party, returning him to frontline politics as the party faces a growing challenge from populist politicians.

"It is a clear, ample victory that went beyond our expectations," said agriculture minister Maurizio Martina, who has been campaigning for Mr Renzi. "This is the opening of a new phase."

Voters queued at tents, bars and local party headquarters across the country to choose between Andrea Orlando, the justice minister, Michele Emiliano, governor of the southern Puglia region, and Mr Renzi, the former prime minister.

Turnout was estimated at between 1.9 to 2 million voters, an "extraordinary" result, said Mr Renzi, 42, who resigned in December after Italians overwhelmingly rejected a national referendum to reform Italy’s constitution.

In remarks on the terrace of the party headquarters, Mr Renzi said the primary victory - estimated to be well over 60 percent - marked the "turning of a new page" for the party, and possibly the future of Europe. </s> Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi gives a press conference at the Palazzo Chigi on December 4, 2016 in Rome (AFP Photo/Andreas SOLARO)

Rome (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation on Monday, hours after it was confirmed he had suffered a crushing defeat in a referendum on constitutional reform.

"My experience of government finishes here," Renzi told a press conference, acknowledging that the No campaign had won an "extraordinarily clear" victory in a vote on which he had staked his future.

Interior Ministry projections suggested the No camp, led by the populist Five Star Movement, had carried the vote by a margin of almost 60-40 with a near 70 percent turnout underlining the high stakes and the intensity of the debate.

Markets seemed to take Renzi's departure in their stride. Stocks and the euro fell in early trading in Asia but there were no signs of panic with the possibility of his resignation having already been largely factored in.

Renzi said he would be visiting President Sergio Mattarella on Monday to hand in his resignation following a final meeting of his cabinet.

Mattarella will then be charged with brokering the appointment of a new government or, if he can't do that, ordering early elections.

Five Star founder and leader Beppe Grillo called for an election to be called "within a week" on the basis of a recently adopted electoral law which is designed to ensure the leading party has a parliamentary majority - a position Five Star could well find themselves in at the next election.

"Democracy was the winner," Grillo wrote in a post-vote blog that marked a significant change in the party's position on the electoral law. Prior to the referendum, Five Star had been arguing for it to be revised.

Most analysts see early elections as unlikely with the most probable scenario involving Renzi's administration being replaced by a caretaker one dominated by his Democratic Party which will carry on until an election due to take place by the spring of 2018.

Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan is the favourite to succeed Renzi as prime minister and the outgoing leader may stay on as head of his party - which would leave him well-placed for a potential comeback to frontline politics at the next election, whenever it is.

On the day Austria's voters rejected a far-right candidate for president, the scale of the No victory in Italy was even bigger than opinion polls had been indicating up until November 18, after which the media were banned from publishing survey results.

Renzi had gone into the final weekend of the campaign insisting he could still win voters around but he acknowledged he had failed. "The Italian people spoke today in unequivocal fashion," he said.

Opposition parties had denounced the proposed amendments to the 68-year-old constitution as dangerous for democracy because they would have removed important checks and balances on executive power.

Spearheaded by Five Star, the biggest rival to Renzi's Democratic party, the "No" campaign also capitalised on Renzi's declining popularity, a sluggish economy and the problems caused by tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Italy from Africa.

Renzi's backers believed they were voting for overdue change.

Outside a polling station in Rome, business owner Raffaele Pasquini, 37, told AFP he had voted "Yes" in the interest of his two-year-old son.

"We are voting to try and change a country that has been stalled for far too long," he said.

After the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, the No vote is likely to be interpreted as another victory for populist forces and a potential stepping stone to government for Grillo's Five Star.

But the campaign was not just about popular discontent with the state of Italy. Many Italians of a similar political bent to Renzi had deep reservations about the proposed changes to the constitution.

Under the proposals, the second-chamber Senate, currently a body of 315 directly-elected and five lifetime lawmakers, would have been reduced to only 100 members, mostly nominated by the regions.

The chamber would also have been stripped of most of its powers to block and revise legislation, and to unseat governments. </s> Italy's former prime minister Matteo Renzi has resigned as leader of the country's Democratic Party.

It's after they suffered defeat in the country's general election yesterday.

The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement saw its support soar to become Italy's largest single party, with approximately 31 percent of the vote.

Earlier in the day Mr Renzi says his centre-left party will not join any government led by the anti-immigrant League party or the populist 5-Star Movement, the two victorious forces in Italy's election.

Mr Renzi said both those parties represent an anti-Europeanism that he would not support and said they had had used "verbal hatred" on his Democratic Party politicians.

He said Matteo Salvini of the League and Luigi Di Maio of the 5-Stars had called his party members mafiosi, labelled them corrupt and said they had blood on their hands.

Mr Renzi says "if this is who we are, govern without us. Know that our place in this legislation is in the opposition."

Mr Renzi acknowledged that his party suffered a "total defeat" in Sunday's general election and said he would resign as party leader after a new government has been sworn in.
Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi regains the role of Secretary of the Democratic Party, after his resignation in February, in an open primary election.