Italy's centre-left bloc to cast blank ballot in Thursday's presidential vote

Italy's centre-left bloc, comprising the Democratic Party, the 5-Star Movement and the LEU party, will cast a blank ballot on Thursday in the fourth round of the presidential election, a joint statement said.

It added that the bloc was ready to hold talks with the centre-right to find a shared candidate who could "represent all Italians". The centre-right earlier announced it would abstain on Thursday, meaning the ballot was bound to end in failure.