ROME -- Illness forced President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro to suspend talks on solving Italy's political stalemate Wednesday as speculation grew he may appoint former head of state Francesco Cossiga as prime minister.


Scalfaro, 76, had been due to meet delegations from all the main political parties Wednesday in a second round of talks aimed at solving a deep political crisis sparked by the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Dec. 22.


But the president's office said the consultations had been suspended because Scalfaro was suffering from influenza, meaning a further delay in appointing a new prime minister.


The talks were originally scheduled to end Thursday evening and political commentators had said that Scalfaro could appoint someone to head Italy's 54th government since World War II by the weekend.


The heads of Italy's two houses of parliament had talks with Scalfaro on Tuesday evening and both expressed optimism that there would be a relatively swift end to the turmoil.


"The crisis is sorting itself out, the skies are growing lighter," said lower house leader Irene Pivetti.


Berlusconi resigned after the federalist Northern League party pulled out of his seven-month-old coalition last month.


The outgoing prime minister and his allies are demanding fresh elections, with Berlusconi proposing March 26 as a date -- exactly a year after Italians last voted in general elections.


But the League and opposition centrist and leftist parties say that a broad-based transitional government is required to pass electoral and institutional reform before Italians return to the ballot box.


Scalfaro, the arbiter in the crisis, has the difficult job of plotting a way out of the maze. The president has said that he must be guided by the constitution and cannot dissolve parliament as a majority of its members oppose such a move.


Commentators suggested that the outspoken Cossiga, Scalfaro's predecessor as president, had emerged as favorite to lead a transitional government.


But Clemente Mastella, Labor Minister in the Berlusconi government, said Cossiga was not interested in the job.


"We've just had a meeting with Cossiga. ... He has no intention of being part of a game in which there can be no winners," said Mastella of the small Christian Democratic Center party.


Other candidates for the job include Treasury Minister Lamberto Dini.


Economist Mario Monti, a newly appointed European Union commissioner, is the choice of Northern League leader Umberto Bossi while centrist Mario Segni has proposed Antonio Di Pietro, the former judge who became well known after he spearheaded Italy's war on corruption.