The Italian Parliament has re-elected 80-year-old Sergio Mattarella for a new presidential term by a majority vote. Reported by Corriere della Sera.
Sergio Mattarella. Photo: Creative commons
By the evening of January 29, Mattarella scored 759 votes. It was the eighth round of elections, in the previous rounds none of the candidates gained a majority.
Mattarella's result in the presidential election is one of the best in Italian history. Only socialist Alessandro Pertini gained more in 1978 (832 votes in the 16th round).
Before Mattarella, only Giorgio Napolitano (2006-2015) managed to be re-elected to the presidency.
League of the North, leader of the right-wing party, Matteo Salvini, admitted that he was satisfied with Mattarella's re-election proposal. His fellow party members also supported him.
“The main task was to take this decisive step, guaranteeing the stability of the executive branch,” said Giuseppe Conte, chairman of the Five Star Movement party and former Prime Minister of Italy. —
It was important for us not to compromise the action of the government, which must be strong and decisive and which must not be interrupted: we have achieved this result.”
As noted by a member of the executive committee of the Forward Italy! Antonio Tajani, Mattarella «has done a great job for seven years and will do well for the next seven years.» Even the leader of the Forward Italy! Silvio Berlusconi, who shortly before the start of the elections withdrew his candidacy from the election of the head of the Italian Republic, said that he «refused to run in favor of a single solution», which «can only be found around the figure of Mattarella».
The Brothers of Italy party became the only political force that spoke out against the re-election of Mattarella.
Before the presidential elections, the elderly president repeatedly said that he ruled out the possibility of re-election. One of the main contenders for the presidency — the current Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi — asked Mattarella to stay for another term. In the seventh round, the president won 400 votes, and the ruling coalition agreed on his candidacy.
The president in Italy performs mainly representative functions, but in a crisis situation he becomes the central figure in political life — he can dissolve parliament, appoint a new prime minister and deny mandate to weak coalitions.