ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s divided parliament begins voting for a new state president on Thursday, with former Senate Speaker Franco Marini the main candidate in a ballot that will severely strain the unity of the center-left alliance led by Pier Luigi Bersani.

The vote for a successor to President Giorgio Napolitano, whose term ends on May 15, will be a crucial step towards resolving the stalemate since the inconclusive election in February left no party with enough support to form a government.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement chose a television journalist as its candidate for president on Tuesday and hinted it could co-operate with center left if she were elected.

Choosing a successor to President Giorgio Napolitano, whose term ends on May 15, is a vital step toward resolving the stalemate created by an inconclusive general election in February that left no party able to form a government.

ROME (Reuters) – Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani moved closer to agreement on Monday on choosing a new president, a vital step to ending the stalemate created by an inconclusive election in February.

Seven weeks after the general election, which left no party with a viable majority in parliament, Monti remains head of a caretaker government with vital reforms on hold until a new administration can be formed.

ROME (Reuters) – A panel of “wise men” named by Italy’s president proposed sweeping political and economic reforms on Friday, but there was little sign they would achieve the aim of creating a consensus program to unite feuding political parties.

Italy has been left with a caretaker government for 45 days since an inconclusive election gave no party enough seats in parliament to govern alone, while personal enmity among faction leaders has made it all but impossible to agree a coalition.

ROME, April 10 (Reuters) – Italy’s centre-left alliance
showed new signs of division on Wednesday after the chief rival
to Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani denounced the
party hierarchy as efforts to form a government enter a critical
phase.

The deadlock has left the euro zone’s third-largest economy
with only a caretaker government in charge as it slides further
into a recession that many analysts expect will last until at
least next year.

ROME, April 10 (Reuters) – Italy’s centre-left alliance
showed new signs of division on Wednesday after the chief rival
to Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani denounced the
party hierarchy as efforts to form a government enter a critical
phase.

The deadlock has left the euro zone’s third largest economy
with only a caretaker government in charge as it slides further
into a recession that many analysts expect will last until at
least next year.

ROME (Reuters) – Italian center-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani confirmed on Tuesday he would meet his center-right rival Silvio Berlusconi soon, but held out little hope of a breakthrough in the political stalemate since February’s inconclusive election.

Bersani, who won a majority in the lower house but fell short of the Senate majority which would have allowed him to form a government, has so far refused Berlusconi’s demands for a “grand coalition” between the two rival forces.

ROME/MILAN (Reuters) – A long stalemate since Italy’s inconclusive election has left government departments in Rome becalmed until a new administration arrives and powerless to respond to increasingly desperate calls for action from business leaders.

More than 40 days have passed since the parliamentary election, with rival center-left and center-right leaders Pier Luigi Bersani and Silvio Berlusconi and the populist 5-Star Movement led by ex-comic Beppe Grillo no closer to an accord that would allow a government to be formed.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s 87-year-old President Giorgio Napolitano will face the greatest test of his career during his final weeks in office as he tries to end the standoff preventing a new government being formed more than a month after elections.

Following widespread reports he may resign to open the way for a new vote, Napolitano pledged to remain in office at the Quirinale palace until his term ends on May 15, averting the immediate threat of further turmoil.

ROME, March 29 (Reuters) – Italian President Giorgio
Napolitano meets political leaders on Friday in a bid to break a
month-old stalemate after an election left no party able to form
a government.

Centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who won the biggest
share of the vote in the February 25 vote but fell short of a
majority, told Napolitano on Thursday he had failed to secure
enough support from rival parties to form a government.