Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday named law professor Giuseppe Conte as Italy's new prime minister, tasking him with a mandate to form a new government.

　　Giuseppe Conte arrives to address the media after meeting Italian President Sergio Mattarella, at the Quirinale presidential palace in Rome, Wednesday, May 23, 2018. [Photo: AP/Gregorio Borgia]

　　Conte was put forward by the rightwing League and the populist Five Star Movement, the two top vote-getters in Italy's inconclusive March 4 election, as their choice for prime minister earlier this week.

　　"The president of the Republic has conferred a mandate to form a government on Professor Giuseppe Conte," presidential secretary Ugo Zampetti said after the president and the professor met for almost two hours.

　　The relatively obscure academic aged in his early 50s, who teaches private law at Florence University and has zero experience in politics or public administration, will lead a coalition seeking radical tax cuts, generous welfare spending, and a roll-back in pension reforms.

　　Conte's candidacy hit a snag Tuesday after international media reported that he had inflated or misrepresented some of the claims on his lengthy curriculum. However, the League and the Five Stars stood by him.

　　The next step is for Conte to come up with a cabinet line-up and to discuss it with Mattarella, possibly at the end of the week.

　　After that, the new government must win a confidence vote in each house of parliament -- the 315-member Senate and the 630-member Chamber of Deputies.

　　The timing of this vote will depend on how long Conte will need to form his cabinet, but could take place sometime next week, local media said.

　　Wednesday's move follows on a number of false starts and failed consultations, more than two months after the general election that delivered no clear winner and left parliament divided into three blocs -- the center-right, the populists, and the center-left.