Giorgio Napolitano, an Italian life Senator, was elected as Italy's 11th postwar president on Wednesday, becoming the first former Communist to win the position.

The 80-year-old senator won 543 votes, well above the minimum 505-vote mark, during the fourth round by more than 1,000 voters.

The center-left president-elect is to succeed President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, 85, whose seven-year mandate expires on May 18.

Napolitano, a former interior minister and House speaker, is the second-oldest president to take office after Sandro Pertini, who was elected in 1978 at the age of 82.

The first three rounds of voting had failed, in which a two-thirds majority was required to decide the winner.

Italy's outgoing premier Silvio Berlusconi refused to give his backing for Napolitano, arguing that his past as a member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) made him an "unacceptable" candidate.

Berlusconi raised the same objection to the center left's first candidate, the former premier and chairman of the Democratic Left party Massimo D'Alema.

The Democratic Left, of which Napolitano is also a member, is the largest party in Premier-elect Romano Prodi's coalition and the main heir to the PCI.

The Italian head of state is elected in a joint session by deputies, senators and representatives of Italy's 20 regions, by a total of 1,010 voters.

Under the Constitution, the first three ballots require a two-thirds majority for a winner to emerge. If the voting produces no result, the rules relax to a straight majority from the fourth ballot on.

The electors began voting on Monday for the new president and the previous three rounds went without a decision. By contrast, outgoing President Ciampi was elected on the first ballot.

Source: Xinhua