Italian President Giorgio Napolitano opened consultations Friday the government crisis brought on by the resignation of Premier Romano Prodi.
A timetable issued by Napolitano's office indicated that the consultations will wind up on Tuesday.
According to some observers, five days is a relatively long time and may indicate a desire on the president's part to try and let the political waters calm.
Prodi resigned Thursday night after he lost a confidence vote in the Senate due to defections in his coalition, primarily by his ex-justice minister Clemente Mastella and his small, centrist Udeur party.
Because the center left no longer has a majority in parliament, Napolitano has two basic options. He can either dissolve parliament and call early elections, or he can ask an institutional figure above the political fray to form an interim government which will adopt needed reforms, especially to the voting system, before calling elections.
In the past, Napolitano has made it clear he preferred electoral reform before elections.
At present most of the center right is in favor of early elections, hoping to ride the political wave of Prodi's downfall, while in the center left there is more support for an interim government.
However, there are divisions in both the left and right, as well as within individual parties, on which option would be best.
Pier Ferdinando Casini, leader of the opposition centrist Catholic UDC party, has proposed what he calls a ''government of national responsibility'', which would involve all major parties, to tackle the nation's problems.
If this is not possible, then elections are preferable he said on Friday.
Ex-premier Silvio Berluconi, the head of the Forza Italian party and probable center-right candidate for premier, reiterated on Friday that he wanted snap elections with the current election law, which he forced through at the end of the last legislature.
The latest polls indicate that over 50% Italians are opposed to elections without electoral reform, a view shared by the country's unions and employers.
Napolitano opened his consultations by meeting first with Senate Speaker Franco Marini, a prime candidate to head an interim executive.
Friday also saw the president confer with House Speaker Fausto Bertinotti and later with representatives from the independent caucuses, first from the Senate and then from the House.
On Saturday Napolitano will talk to Italy's many smaller parties, including the Udeur, splinter groups from the once powerful Christians Democrat and Socialist parties, the Greens and those representing local interests and ethnic minorities.
On Monday the president tackles the bigger parties starting with the devolutionist Northern League, then the UDC, the Communist Refoundation party and rightwing National Alliance.
The final day of Napolitano's consultations begins with Forza Italia and then the new Democratic Party, born during the legislature through the merger of the Democratic Left and the centrist Daisy party.
Napolitano winds up his consultations by conferring individually with his predecessors: Francesco Cossiga, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
In other developments, Prodi ruled out any possibility of heading an interim government.
His statements appeared to be a reply to leftist elements in his ex-coalition who said they would only back an interim executive if Prodi was at the helm.
