Italy's president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi has said he will not serve a second term after his mandate expires next month, adding further uncertainty to the confused aftermath of stormy elections.
The new president will play a crucial role in repairing the damage from last week's polls, in which centre-left leader Romano Prodi won a razor-thin victory over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who refuses to acknowledge the results.
"Seven years up here (in the president's palace) are already a lot, another seven would ... perhaps mean a kind of republican monarchy," Mr Ciampi (85) told the Corriere della Seranewspaper in an interview published today.
But in a statement released by his office later today, Mr Ciampi appeared to re-open the door for a second term - something which would be a popular option in Italy's divided parliament as he is liked by both left and right.
The statement said the newspaper article was a "free reconstruction" of a private conversation that took place on April 3rd, although it did not deny the quotes were accurate.
Under the Italian constitution it is up to the president to give a new government its mandate, but Mr Ciampi has so far refused to do so, reportedly saying he preferred to leave that task to his successor.
The confusion over who might become the country's next head of state added to the feeling of political gridlock in Italy, where there is still no official confirmation of Prodi's election win.
Italy's supreme appeals court - the body which will deliver the official results - said it was still waiting for data from some parts of the country and expected to receive them by tomorrow.
Mr Berlusconi's party held a news conference to reject, once again, Mr Prodi's victory declaration and voiced concerns that the courts were rushing the verification of the ballots.
The incoming parliament is due to elect a president on May 12 thand 13th and Mr Ciampi was seen as one of the few candidates who would have been able to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority.
The new president must hold consultations with party leaders from across the political spectrum before nominating the person he thinks has the best chance of governing.
That will almost certainly be Mr Prodi, unless Mr Berlusconi's accusations of widespread vote fraud are accepted by Italy's top appeals court, something that is looking increasingly unlikely.