Italy fails to elect new president at fifth ballot -Reuters count

Cameras are set up outside Montecitorio Palace, the lower house of Parliament, as the voting to elect the country's new President continues, in Rome, Italy January 28, 2022. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

A fifth round of voting for Italy's new president failed to produce a winner on Friday, according to a Reuters calculation of the ongoing count.

Centre-right parties had tried to push through Senate speaker Elisabetta Casellati, from Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, for the high-standing role.

However, the Reuters calculation of the count showed that she had not gathered enough support to reach the necessary 505-vote threshold needed to secure victory.

Parliament will hold a second vote on Friday, scheduled to start at 1600 GMT.

(Writing by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Crispian Balmer)