Italy's parliament begins vote to elect president

ROME, May 8 (Reuters) Italian lawmakers began voting today to elect a new head of state, but no winner was expected to emerge in the first round of balloting as the centre right and centre left had failed to agree on a candidate.

Prime-minister-in-waiting Romano Prodi, whose centre-left coalition won last month's election by a slim margin, will not be able to form his government before the election of the new president, who will formally give him the mandate.

A winner of the presidential election may not emerge before a fourth ballot on Wednesday, when the number of votes needed to win falls from a two-thirds majority of the electors to a more easily achieved absolute majority.

The 1,010 ''grand electors'', made up of lawmakers and regional representatives, began voting by secret ballot at around 4:25 p.m. (1955 hrs IST) to choose a successor to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, whose 7-year term expires this month.

The voting was expected to take several hours before the result was to be announced.

REUTERS CH PC2138