ROME, May 9 (UPI) -- Outgoing premier Silvio Berlusconi Tuesday renewed objections to a former communist becoming Italy's next president, ruling out Sen. Giorgio Napolitano.
"There are no margins for negotiation," said the billionaire media magnate, who narrowly lost last month's general election to center-left chief Romano Prodi, ANSA reported.
Berlusconi said his House of Liberties coalition would refuse to accept any member of the Democratic Left, the largest center-left party and the main heir to the former Italian Communist Party.
Berlusconi said his coalition would cast blank ballots in the next rounds of voting, implying that the center-left would have to vote Napolitano in by itself .
Prodi said his coalition would also leave their ballot slips blank in the afternoon but would all vote for Napolitano when voting resumes Wednesday and the election rules change to allow a straightforward majority as opposed to a two-thirds majority.
This would allow the center-left to elect its own candidate.
Deputies, senators and representatives of Italy's 20 regions are voting to decide who should succeed President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, whose seven-year mandate expires on May 18.
