Following the historical Italian elections, Matteo Renzi announced his resignation on Monday after coming third behind the right-wing coalition and the M5S.
But leading voices in his party have hit out and are calling for him to bring forward his resignation.
Governor of the Puglia region Michele Emiliano and a leading PD member slammed Mr Renzi for not resigning immediately and “impeding the party from supporting the M5S”.
Senior members of the vanquished PD are still eying a possible deal with the M5S after an election that left the country with a hung Parliament and anti-establishment and far-right parties surging into the lead.
Matteo Renzi ruled out working with either the M5S or the right-wing coalition and in a Facebook post said he would not work those who “have insulted us for years and who represent the opposite of our values”.
He added: “They’ve said that we’re corrupt, mafiosi and that we have blood on our hands due to immigration.
“I don’t believe that they’ve suddenly changed their minds.
“If anyone wants to support the right-wing or the Five Star Movement they should say so.
“I personally think it would be a glaring and tragic mistake.”
Leader of M5S Luigi Di Maio said his party were “the winners” after gaining nearly 33 per cent of the vote but the M5S still needs to form alliances in Parliament to win a majority.
The leader of the far-right Lega Matteo Salvini is the biggest Party in the right-wing coalition that came first with 37 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s election but still failed to win an overall majority.
He said his team is ready to govern, telling reporters: “We have a programme, a team.
“If they call us, we’ll start work tomorrow morning.”
On Tuesday, Mr Salvini said the right “was the number one coalition and the hope for Italians” and he was open to negotiate with anyone who “shares our programme”.
But, he ruled out any “old-style political or cross-party agreement” and refused any alliance with the M5S.
Mr Salvini overtook coalition partner Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (Go Italy) after promising to deport hundreds of thousands of “irregular” migrants and blasting the EU and its “failed currency”.
Deputy leader of Lega Lorenzo Fontana said Brussels finance chiefs had prioritised the EU’s economy over citizens by pushing for a federalist eurozone.
He claimed this has given Italy a clear “disadvantage” while other EU nations have benefitted from the adoption of the euro.
Mr Fontana told MSNBC: “Our view is that the euro is a currency that was created incorrectly.
“It is a hybrid created to give certain countries an advantage and others, such as Italy, a disadvantage.
“Mainly it is a currency, that unlike the United States, where you have a central bank with a single public debt, it is a currency that has various public debts, meaning it becomes an issue whenever the EU says that public debt levels are too high.
“We have a spread that is currently too high, mainly due to certain populations that don’t want to manage their finances, which ultimately ended up with the formation of a European currency.”