The leaders of the biggest parties in Italy's two main political blocs on Tuesday stuck to their irreconcilable positions on how to resolve the current political crisis.
Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi and Democratic Party leader Walter Veltroni were the last two party chiefs to go the Quirinal Palace to present their views to President Giorgio Napolitano.
Berlusconi, who is pushing to lead a centre-right coalition to a third election victory, said the ''only path is to return to the polls to give the country an immediately operative government''.
Veltroni laid out two possible scenarios. In the first of these elections would be put off until 2009 and in the meantime an interim government would approve a new electoral law and cut the costs of the political system.
In the second scenario, elections would be held in June this year, as soon as the electoral law had been changed.
''We have to find a solution that answers the need for stability and the need to have governments with a coherent programme. Voting today means instability tomorrow,'' he said.
In his comments to journalists as he left the Quirinal Palce, Berlusconi insisted there was no need to change the electoral law.
''We believe this electoral law allowed full governability in the House, even for a (centre-left) coalition which won by only 24,000 votes. And if it didn't allow the same governability in the Senate it was because the Left won 250,000 fewer votes than the centre right''.
''We think that, given the political landscape, this law will guarantee a majority able to produce a government that will last five years''.
The president was scheduled to consult with his three predecessors on Tuesday afternoon before deciding how to proceed. An announcement is widely expected on Wednesday.
