Barack Obama has called Italy’s Matteo Renzi: White House

Italian voters dealt Premier Matteo Renzi a resounding rebuke by rejecting his proposed constitutional reforms, plunging Europe’s fourth-largest economy into political and economic uncertainty Monday.

President Sergio Mattarella will later have to either choose a new prime minister or call early elections.

Berlusconi himself was forced to resign in 2011 amid growing global concern over Italy’s sovereign debt crisis and was replaced by economist Mario Monti, without elections. Italian financials shed 2.6 per cent as a 5-billion euro rescue plan for Monte dei Paschi di Siena hung by a thread.

Italy’s leftist leader is on the way out after losing a Sunday referendum on constitutional changes that he turned into a personal plebiscite.

Across the political spectrum, meanwhile, parties were plotting the next move in a high-stakes game with the country’s top job as prize. The lower house has already approved the budget.

His opponents – including some within his own party – had argued that the reforms would give the prime minister too much power. He, and like-minded politicians throughout the continent, had hoped that they could ride the anti-establishment tide that powered the Brexit vote and the Trump candidacy to victory, setting the stage for election wins next year in France, Germany and the Netherlands. The self-styled reformer with his promise to stabilise politics and kick-start the Italian economy has managed quite the reverse.

On a visit to Brussels, Italy’s Maria Elena Boschi received a show of support from the major political groups in the European Parliament and from the Commission, ahead of the do-or-die referendum in October on constitutional reform. That said, M5S has been the big victor from the referendum vote, and the group will be looking to make further gains from the latest crisis.

Angling to gain national power for the first time are the 5-Stars, who did well in mayoral races earlier this year, including winning City Hall in Rome, Italy’s capital.

Five Star founder and leader Beppe Grillo called for an election to be called “within a week” on the basis of a recently adopted electoral law which is created to ensure the leading party has a parliamentary majority – a position Five Star could well find themselves in at the next election.

The president told him he should stay in place until the budget was passed to prevent emergency funding rules from kicking in on January 1.

In spite of the pressure from the opposition, early elections are also thought to be unlikely.

One day after Italian voters decisively rejected a package of Constitutional reforms, effectively dismissing their government, European Union officials were far more animated by the results of the Austrian presidential election, in which voters spurned Norbert Hofer of the far-right Freedom Party and instead bet their future on a Green: Alexander Van der Bellen, a liberal lawmaker and former university economics professor.

Mr Grillo has for years advocated a referendum on Italy’s euro zone membership status.

Coming after Brexit and Donald Trump’s U.S. election victory, Mr Renzi’s defeat is being seen as another victory for the anti-establishment backlash sweeping much of Europe and America.