Italian President rejects early elections

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano rejected suggestions that Italy would have to return to the polls immediately after this week's election, which left no party with a workable majority in parliament.

"I'm not interested in a new vote," he told reporters at the margins of an event in Berlin, where he gave a speech.

Napolitano, whose 7-year term expires on May 15, also repeated that he would not seek another term. He doubted his successor would want to dissolve parliament early either, because Italy needed a stable government.