The Italian parliament failed to elect a president in the fifth round of voting today, with most electors returning blank ballots after a disagreement over candidates threw the main centre-left alliance into disarray.

The best-supported candidate in the fifth ballot, left-wing academic Stefano Rodota, backed by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, got 210 votes, far short of the 504 required to win.

The centre-right alliance led by Silvio Berlusconi boycotted the vote.

Parliament will vote again this afternoon. Italian media reported that if no winner emerges, voting may be suspended until Monday.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.