With critics from leftist factions threatening to abandon the Democratic Party, Renzi, 42, told the national assembly of the party in a Rome hotel on Sunday that he had handed in his resignation, acknowledging he was set back by defeat in the Dec. 4 constitutional referendum. [...]
Renzi, who is expected to stand for re-election at a congress in April or May, denounced “blackmail by a minority” and infighting that he called “a gift” to the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. [...]
Renzi has faced challenges to his reformist strategy and leadership especially since losing the referendum, which prompted him to resign as premier and sponsor current Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, a Renzi loyalist and fellow PD member, as his successor.
Renzi, who has pushed for early national elections in June or September, made no such appeal on Sunday and instead urged his audience to support Gentiloni and his government. [...]
The survey credited Five Star with 30.9 percent of the vote, against 30.1 percent for the PD, 13 percent for Forza Italia of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi and 12.8 percent for the anti-immigrant Northern League.
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