M5S, FI, PD to file blank ballots (6)

(ANSA) - Rome, March 23 - The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, the centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) said Friday they would file blank ballots in the first round of voting for parliamentary Speakers, the first act in the hung parliament that convenes Friday.
    A deal between the centre right, including the League, and the M5S to give the Speakership of the Senate to the former and the House to the latter broke down Thursday.
    The M5S rejected the F1 candidate for Senate Speaker, former Senate Whip Paolo Romani, because he is under investigation for alleged misuse of a municipal cellphone in the northern city of Monza.
    The M5S said Friday they would "never resurrect" the so-called Nazarene Pact formerly between FI leader Silvio Berlusconi and PD ex-leader Matteo Renzi.
    "No blackmail, we won't rehabilitate Berlusconi," said M5S Senate Whip Danilo Toninelli.
    PD caretaker leader Maurizio Martina said "the stalemate is getting more complicated, and what we need are guarantor figures".