ROME, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The results of Italy's general elections led to the call for President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to run for a second term when his mandate expires next month, Italian news agency ANSA reported Tuesday.

    Earlier in the day, center-left leader Romano Prodi claimed victory in the parliamentary elections, citing decisive votes from Italians abroad.

    According to the state television RAI, the center-left gained 158 seats in the Senate, against the center-right's 156.

    But the center-right coalition, led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, claimed voting irregularities and demanded a recount.

    The center-left's wafer-thin majority has fuelled speculation that Ciampi may remain in office to smooth over teething difficulties stemming from the close vote, ANSA said.

    The 85-year-old president's seven-year mandate expires in May and, until recently, he had been expected to retire.

    The president had appeared to dismiss the idea of a second term on several occasions, insisting that he was more concerned with his current term than the future and stressing that a trip to Germany last month was his "final state visit."

    But the idea has persistently resurfaced in recent weeks.

    Italian Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione of the centrist Catholic UDC party was the first to revive the proposal, saying it was a good idea if Ciampi would have the power to reassure the markets.

    The leader of the Green party, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, echoed the minister's comments, adding, "It would be a very sensible move."

    Nicola Mancino, a former interior minister and a prominent centrist senator in Prodi's coalition, said Ciampi's re-election "is both probable and necessary in light of the election results."

    The head of the Italian Communist Party, former justice minister Oliviero Diliberto, also said, "In a country split in two,we want to re-elect Ciampi, in order to guarantee the unity and peace of the nation, as well as its institutional balance."

    Italian presidents are elected by parliament. A two-third majority is needed, meaning that in practice a head of state cannot be chosen by ruling parties alone.

    The period before the election of a new president is traditionally marked by horse-trading as politicians maneuver for their candidates of choice.

    Ciampi, a former governor of Bank of Italy and premier, was elected president in 1999 on an unusual first ballot, receiving 707 votes out of a possible 990.

    He was economy minister in Prodi's last center-left government and his tough budget measures are often credited with steering Italy into the group of countries that launched the euro zone. Enditem