Italy's rivals at loggerheads over next president

ROME, May 7 (Reuters) Italy's incoming government and the centre-right opposition are locked in a dispute over who should be president, setting the stage for a showdown tomorrow when voting starts in parliament.

Outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi today said any left-wing politician would be an ''indecent'' proposal, referring to the centre-left's main candidate -- Massimo D'Alema, leader of the biggest party in their coalition.

''I consider the proposal of a politician from a left-wing party simply indecent,'' Berlusconi told reporters in Milan, warning about the risk of a ''democratic emergency''.

''Negotiations are possible, but we need to see whether Italy is still a democracy or whether it is dangerously going down the path of a regime,'' he said.

Berlusconi's rejection of D'Alema means Romano Prodi, who has a wafer-thin majority in parliament after narrowly winning last month's election, faces the prospect of a drawn-out battle to push his candidate.

Parliament and regional representatives will start voting on a successor to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, whose term ends this month, tomorrow afternoon. The election is likely to take at least three days, and possibly more.

In a last-minute attempt to break the deadlock, centre-left leaders went into an impromptu meeting with Berlusconi's top allies today evening.

Berlusconi accuses the centre-left of trying to ''occupy'' all the top institutional posts after it appointed two of its own as speakers of the lower and upper house.

Although it is largely a ceremonial position, the election of the president has taken on added significance this time because Prodi cannot form a new government until the new head of state gives him a formal mandate.

As the embodiment of the nation, the president is meant to be a widely respected figure above party politics.

D'Alema is the chairman of the Democrats of the Left (DS), Italy's former communist party. Berlusconi says his communist past rules him out of the job.

Signalling opposition also from the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said D'Alema's candidacy was raising ''increasingly evident doubts''.

Other possible candidates include former Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, former European Commissioner Mario Monti and Berlusconi's choice for the post, his close aide Gianni Letta.

DILEMMA Prodi is under pressure from the DS to give the job to D'Amema because the party failed to win either speakership of parliament and feels it is overdue a prestigious post.

Other parties in Prodi's broad coalition, however, fear D'Alema's appointment would be too divisive and lead to prolonged confrontation with the centre-right on just about any future issues.

Adding to those concerns, Berlusconi threatened head-on stonewalling if the centre-left imposed its own candidate.

''If we won't feel represented, we will not accept to pay taxes ... I guarantee that I will personally lead an opposition like it has never been seen in Italy,'' he said.

A two-thirds majority is needed to elect a president in the first three rounds of voting, and a simple majority after that.

Prodi's bloc could use its slim majority to push through its preferred candidate, but probably not without several bruising rounds of votes which would last at least until Wednesday.

It took 13 days to elect Ciampi's predecessor in 1992.

REUTERS SB PC2326