Italy's president began a final round of talks with political leaders today to see if Silvio Berlusconi has the support needed to resume as prime minister after resigning earlier this week.
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Italy's 84-year-old head of state, is expected to ask Mr Berlusconi to form a new government, giving the media tycoon one more year to improve his declining popularity before a scheduled general election in 2006.
If he is unconvinced that Mr Berlusconi's fractious coalition is ready to back him, Mr Ciampi would almost certainly call a snap election. But that risk receded today as the centre-right parties in Mr Berlusconi's House of Freedoms coalition told Mr Ciampi they would support a new-look Berlusconi administration.
"The National Alliance has asked Ciampi to give Berlusconi a mandate to form a new government," said party leader Gianfranco Fini, who played an important role in forcing the prime minister to resign on Wednesday and form another cabinet.
After the centre-right suffered a defeat in regional elections, both Mr Fini's AN and the Union of Christian Democrats (UDC) demanded a major shake-up to address the concerns of poorer voter especially in the underdeveloped south.
Under the Italian constitution, a prime minister is obliged to resign if he makes major changes to his cabinet and must then present his new team to parliament for a confidence vote.
Mr Berlusconi has said he could be ready with a new cabinet line-up by today, which would mean he could present his new government for the parliamentary confidence vote as early as next Tuesday. Monday is a national holiday in Italy.
A minister from Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy) party said the reshuffle would involve relatively low-level posts; there is no talk of not reinstating Economy Minister Domenico Siniscalco or Mr Fini as foreign minister.
But some doubts remain on the final carve-up of government posts, especially as AN and UDC are keen to reduce the standing of a third coalition party, the Northern League, which they say has been given too much power under Mr Berlusconi.
The League, which brought down Mr Berlusconi's first government in 1994, has become his most loyal ally in the hope of pushing through a bill that will decentralise more powers to the regions.