ROME - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed confidence in Italy's capacity to deal with a national vote that failed to produce a clear mandate for government.

Kerry was meeting later Wednesday with outgoing Premier Mario Monti during a visit to Rome. Speaking to reporters, Kerry said he was `'very confident about Italy's ability and desire to work through" the complicated results.

The Sunday-Monday vote left Pier Luigi Bersani's center-left coalition won control of the lower house, but the Senate is split after Beppe Grillo's civic movement and former Premier Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition. Bersani is expected to get the first bid at forming a government.

Kerry says the election demonstrated that Italians `'wanted change."