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Berlusconi rejects Prodi's man for Italy president

Posted on: Friday, 5 May 2006, 08:10 CDT

By Robin Pomeroy

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi rejected the incoming government's preferred presidential candidate on Friday, dashing hopes for a quick appointment to the country's top job.

Romano Prodi, who narrowly beat Berlusconi's centre-right government in last month's general election, wanted Massimo D'Alema, chairman of the biggest party in his coalition, the Democrats of the Left, to become head of state.

With a slim parliamentary majority, Prodi may find it difficult to get approval for his candidate without support from the opposition. He met Berlusconi on Thursday aiming to smooth their prickly relationship and find a deal.

But a day after the hour-long meeting which Italian newspapers described as tense, Berlusconi said he would not support D'Alema, a former prime minister.

"When you talk about the president of the republic, it has to be someone who is a guarantor of the constitution, the flag and unity of Italy," he told reporters in Naples.

"It must be someone who can give to all sides guarantees of an absolute, total impartiality," he said.

The media tycoon, who refused to concede defeat for more than three weeks after the election, said D'Alema's history in the Italian Communist Party (PCI) ruled him out of the post.

"When it was suggested they change the hammer and sickle symbol, he said publicly: 'we shouldn't trouble ourselves with getting rid of it because it's a symbol -- which is a symbol of terror and death -- that remains close to our hearts'," he said.

The PCI transformed itself into the Democrats of the Left in the early 1990s, dropping the communist brand, but Berlusconi has consistently railed against communists and portrayed himself as the defender of Italy against the hard left.

TEST

Italy's parliament is due to convene on Monday to elect a successor to 85-year-old President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi whose term ends this month.

Although it is a largely titular position, the appointment of a president is of heightened significance this time because Prodi cannot take his centre-left bloc into government before the new head of state is in office and gives him a mandate.

The president has the power to nominate the prime minister and dissolve parliament, prerogatives that could be crucial as Prodi prepares to govern with his wafer-thin majority.

Italian newspapers reported that Berlusconi told Prodi he wanted a range of candidates for parliament to choose from, instead of a single person to be rubber-stamped by the assembly.

Prodi said his coalition had not officially decided on a candidate but that he hoped the wide swathe of parties would come up with a name at a meeting later on Friday. "We'll see today around 4.30 (1430 GMT)," he said.

Prodi's coalition could use its slim majority to push its preferred candidate through the assembly, but probably not without several bruising rounds of votes.

Such a move would also be considered a provocation by centre-right politicians and voters who return to the polls at the end of the month in local elections which will be an early test of Prodi's popularity.

A two-thirds majority is required to elect a president in the first three rounds of voting, and a simple majority after that. It took 13 days to elect Ciampi's predecessor in 1992.

Other possible presidential candidates include former prime minister Giuliano Amato, former European Commissioner Mario Monti and Berlusconi's close aide Gianni Letta.

Source: REUTERS

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