Italian president refuses new term, prolonging transition for Prodi
Italy's 85-year-old President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said he would not seek a second seven-year term, dashing prime minister-elect Romano Prodi's chances of forming a government by next week to cap nearly a month of political uncertainty.
"I don't believe that given my advanced age I would be able to count on the energy necessary for the task," Ciampi said in a statement, after rival coalitions on right and left had agreed to back his candidacy.
Ciampi's withdrawal immediately opened up the prospect of a potentially divisive and lengthy battle for the presidency which could further delay the installation of a new government under Prodi.
The popular president, whose mandate expires on May 18, said he was grateful for the support from both sides of Italy's political divide.
"However, such statements lead me, out of a requirement for dutiful clarity, to publicly confirm my 'non-availability' for a renewal of the mandate," Ciampi's statement said.
Outgoing conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi -- who lost last month's national elections to Prodi by a super-slim margin -- officially put forward Ciampi's name for a second term on Tuesday, saying the incumbent was impartial and possessed moral authority.
Prodi had welcomed the proposal, signalling earlier Wednesday he was prepared to drop the centre-left's own candidate, Massimo D'Alema, 57, in favour of backing a second Ciampi term.
D'Alema, a former communist and president of the biggest centre-left party, the Democrats of the Left, is certain to be fiercely opposed by the centre-right.
Berlusconi said he was "very sorry, even saddened" at Ciampi's decision, but immediately proposed his close political confidant, Gianni Letta, as the centre-right's candidate.
Letta, undersecretary of state in the office of the prime minister, is a highly experienced politician who is likely to attract broad support in cross-party talks over the coming days aimed at agreeing a consensus candidate.
A disappointed Prodi told reporters of Ciampi: "I want to thank him for seven years he has given and regret that there won't be another seven.
Berlusconi, 69, had earlier Wednesday pledged to fight hard to stop the centre-left from winning the presidency.
"They have now conquered the parliament, the speakership of both houses (of parliament) and God doesn't want them to conquer the supreme seat of power in the state, guardian of the constitution and guarantor of the unity of the country," he said.
Had Ciampi agreed to run for a second term -- meaning he would remain as president until the age of 92 -- he would likely have been elected next Monday, when voting for a new president is scheduled to begin.
That would play to Prodi's desire to form a government quickly and get Italy's ailing public finances on track.
Under Italy's constitution, it falls to the state president to ask Prodi to form a new government.
The president will be elected by an electoral college totalling 1,010, made up of 630 deputies of the lower house, 315 senators of the upper house, seven life-senators and 58 regional delegates.
The quest for a successor to Ciampi may go on for days or even weeks.
Ciampi, a former prime minister and central bank governor, was elected in one day of voting in 1999, but it took 13 days to elect his predecessor Oscar Luigi Scalfaro in 1992.
The uncertainty surrounding the presidential election has added to the sense of a political vacuum in Italy, where almost one month after his victory over Berlusconi, Prodi is still waiting to take power.
Prodi, a former prime minister and erstwhile president of the European Commission, wanted a speedy handover from outgoing leader Berlusconi in order to reassure international financial markets, concerned about Italy's runaway public debt and near-zero growth.
The flamboyant conservative Berlusconi submitted his resignation Tuesday following last month's defeat to Prodi's coalition.
AFP
