Italy's former conservative premier Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday said legislation was needed to regulate primaries, appearing to soften his opposition to the election of party leaders and candidates for mayor.
"Primaries as they work currently have given some terrible results," he told journalists in the northwest city of Genoa.
"They need to be regulated by a law," he said.
Berlusconi recently clashed with the right's rising star, the anti-immigrant Northern League leader Matteo Salvini on the issue of primaries to elect a new conservative leader.
Berlusconi said last week he would found a new "moderate" centre-right movement to replace his Forza Italia party and that he would hand-pick its leader - a move dubbed "undemocratic" and "dynastic" by Salvini.
Italy's 40 year-old centre-left premier Matteo Renzi was elected leader of the ruling centre-left Democratic Party after he scored an overwhelming victory in party primaries held in December 2013.
