Democratic Party (PD) leader Enrico Letta on Thursday reiterated his call for Italy's next president to be a bipartisan figure and said the fact that he wanted dialogue with the centre-right parties over a possible name does not mean they get to choose the new head of State.
The centre right had been considering backing ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi to be President Sergio Mattarella's replacement but the Forza Italia leader's chances of taking the top job appear to be fading due to staunch opposition from the PD and the 5-Star Movement (M5S).
Lawmakers from both houses of parliament and regional representatives are set to starting voting for a new president on Monday, with Mattarella's seven-year term coming to an end.
A majority of two-thirds of the 'grand electors' is needed to vote in a new president in the first three ballots, after which a simple majority is sufficient.
"Faced with the assault on the presidential palace by the centre right, we had to find a balance between repelling the assault and keeping open a channel of communication for a consensus name, not a partisan one, and, therefore, not a centre-right name," Letta told Radio Immagina.
"We have to find an agreement on a bipartisan name".
League leader Matteo Salvini, meanwhile, had talks with M5S chief Giuseppe Conte on Thursday in view of the presidential election, parliamentary sources said.
Premier Mario Draghi is among the favourites to be the nation's next president, although if the former ECB chief is elected head of State, it could lead to early elections.
This is because many find it hard to imagine the broad spectrum of parties supporting his national unity executive agreeing to get behind another figure.
There has also been talk of Mattarella being re-elected, something that has only happened once previously, with his predecessor Giorgio Napolitano, and staying on, although possibly not for the whole of the seven-year term.
The 80-year-old appeared to rule that out on Thursday, telling the the judiciary's self-governing body, the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM), that it will soon be presided over by a new head of State.
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