ITALY: Italy's post-election political confusion has deepened after president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said he would not seek a second term of office when his seven-year mandate expires next month.
"Fortunately, age is on my side and in a certain sense rules out the possibility of being reinstated as president," Mr Ciampi (85) told Corriere della Sera, Italy's leading newspaper yesterday.
"Seven years up here [ in the presidency] is already a lot. Doubling it would signify, perhaps, a sort of republican monarchy."
One of the first acts of Italy's new parliament will be to choose a new president.
Under Italy's constitution, it is the president's responsibility to appoint the prime minister. With his own term coming to an end on May 18th, Mr Ciampi has indicated that he thinks his successor, who will be chosen one week earlier, should perform this duty.
The refusal by Silvio Berlusconi, the centre-right prime minister, to concede defeat to Romano Prodi means the selection of the new president could take place in a still highly-charged political atmosphere.
Much is at stake for both centre-right and centre-left and, after an election that revealed Italy to be almost split in half between the two camps, each craves the advantage that would come from controlling the presidency.
One possible candidate to succeed Mr Ciampi is Giuliano Amato (67), a former socialist prime minister who is regarded as the acceptable face of the left.
Another is Massimo D'Alema (57), a former prime minister and leading light in the Democrats of the Left party. He worked with Mr Berlusconi in the late 1990s on a bipartisan project - ultimately doomed - to reform Italy's institutions. Though a former communist, he commands respect in certain centre-right circles.
The president is chosen by an assembly consisting of all 952 members of the two houses of parliament, plus 58 representatives of Italy's regions. A candidate needs a two-thirds majority - 674 votes - to be elected. If no such majority is achieved in the first three rounds of voting, a simple majority suffices in the fourth.
The centre-left will have 543 votes and, if it cannot agree with the centre-right on who should get the job, it should be able to impose its candidate in the fourth round.