AKIPRESS.COM - Italy's President, Sergio Mattarella, has been meeting two populist party leaders, after the pair agreed a deal on most of their coalition program, BBCreported.

One key element that the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and right-wing League are yet to decide is who will become prime minister.

Luigi Di Maio of Five Star does not want the job, nor does The League's Matteo Salvini.

But the two men have not yet revealed who they want as leader.

It is the president's task to appoint the government and prime minister and he met the two leaders separately on Monday at the presidential palace, the Quirinale. He has been trying to end the deadlock that has stymied Italian politics since a general election on 4 March.