Background and formation On 7 December 2016, Prime Minister
Matteo Renzi announced his resignation, following the rejection of his proposals to overhaul the
Senate of the Republic in the 2016 constitutional referendum. A few days later, on 11 December 2016, President
Sergio Mattarella asked
Paolo Gentiloni, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, to form a new government. On the following day, Gentiloni was officially sworn in as the new head of the government. Gentiloni formed a coalition government supported by his own Democratic Party, the
New Centre-Right and the
Centrists for Italy. This was the same majority which supported Renzi's government for almost three years. The centrist
Liberal Popular Alliance, led by
Denis Verdini, did not support the new government, because no party member was appointed minister. Deputy ministers of the
Italian Socialist Party and
Solidary Democracy were also appointed. After the split of the
Democratic and Progressive Movement from the Democratic Party, that party was presented by one deputy minister in the government until 3 October 2017.
Investiture votes ==Party breakdown==