ROME — Italy's parliament failed to elect a new state president in its first vote on Thursday, with divisions in the center-left alliance torpedoing a quick victory for its official candidate Franco Marini. Marini, a former Senate speaker, won just over 520 votes, well below the required two thirds majority or 672 of the 1007 members of both houses of parliament and regional representatives in the presidential poll. A second ballot will be held later on Thursday and voting will continue through the weekend if necessary. Marini's failure, in a vote which is key to filling a government vacuum since the deadlocked general election in February, was a setback for Pier Luigi Bersani. The center-left leader split his party by nominating Marini in a deal with center-right boss Silvio Berlusconi. Many rebellious center-left parliamentarians were believed to have voted for academic Stefano Rodota, candidate of the populist 5-Star Movement of former comic Beppe Grillo. Rodota won more than 240 votes and there were also more than 100 blank or spoiled ballots. After three rounds of voting, only an absolute majority is required but the chances for Marini, 80, may decline as time passes, wrecking Bersani's deal with Berlusconi which is aimed at helping him form a minority government. Bersani has repeatedly refused to agree to Berlusconi's demands that they form a broad coalition government together. But it is widely believed he wants to parley an agreement on the presidency with center-right willingness to support a minority center-left government. The vote for a successor to President Giorgio Napolitano, whose term ends on May 15, is a crucial step towards resolving the stalemate since an inconclusive election in February which left no party with enough support to form a government. However the choice of Marini provoked fury in Bersani's Democratic Party (PD) and an open revolt by his rival, Matteo Renzi, the 38-year-old mayor of Florence. Renzi described the 80-year-old Marini as “a candidate from the last century” who had no charisma or international standing, adding that he was only chosen because he was acceptable to Berlusconi.— Reuters
