Berlusconi: President should be elected

ROME, May 25 (UPI) -- Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the country's president should be elected by citizens rather than be appointed by Parliament.

Berlusconi said he would consider running if the country switches to electing its president, ANSA reported.

"There is a desire to examine an issue which has been taken to talks on constitutional reform for 30 years and that is the possibility for citizens to decide who is the president," Berlusconi said at a news conference.

Berlusconi resigned as prime minister in November amid sex and financial scandals and Mario Monti's emergency government took over.

Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom party is the largest in Parliament but it has been beset by internal division after support declined in local elections this month, ANSA reported. National elections are next year.

President Giorgio Napolitano's term ends next year.

ANSA said the position of Italian president is largely a figurehead role but the president has power to send laws back to Parliament if they're deemed unconstitutional.