Italy's new parliament convenes, but is already at an impasse

ROME - Italy's new parliament, which convened for the first time on Friday, was already at an impasse after talks stalled between the two relative winners of the March 4 general election.

The 315-member Senate and the 630-seat Lower House must each elect a speaker -- powerful positions, which act as referees during parliamentary debate -- in what will be two days of vote-taking.

Electing the speaker is an initial step in the Italian process of forming a new government, because it shows whether the political forces are capable of agreement.

However talks between the two relative winners -- the rightwing, anti-immigrant League and the populist Five Star Movement -- have currently broken down.

League leader Matteo Salvini and Five Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio both claim they have a right to be the next prime minister of Italy.

The center-left Democratic Party, which suffered a crushing defeat in the national election after five years in government, is staying on the sidelines.

Both relative winners have pledged to reverse the current open-door immigration policy, roll back unpopular pension reforms, introduce drastic tax cuts and generous welfare policies, and break European Union rules on public spending if necessary.

They were swept to relative victory after an electoral campaign marred by racially motivated attacks on African immigrants amid persistent unemployment of 11 percent and a sluggish economic recovery.

In February, an Italian man with links to Salvini's League shot and wounded six Africans in the central city of Macerata, while earlier this month in Florence, another Italian man shot an African street vendor to death.

It remains to be seen whether the newly elected members of parliament will be able to reach a result in the two-day vote.