Italy seeks a name to unblock the election of the new president

Outside the Parliament in Rome, the world continues its course: the pandemic leaves nearly 400 deaths a day in Italy, families pay up to 1,200 euros per year more for electricity and gas this year, and tension is growing between Russia and Ukraine, which which raises fears that a war could break out in Eastern Europe. Inside Parliament, on the other hand, the 1,009 deputies, senators and representatives of the regions who have to elect the new president of the Italian Republic continue in their self-referential bubble and without reaching an agreement. They have been dizzying the partridge for five days, in which six different votes have taken place, the last two this Friday, without being able to name the successor of Sergio Mattarella, whose term as head of state ends next Thursday, February 3.

The “unseemly” show that Italian politicians are offering these days, more typical of “the X Factor” than of the election of the highest office in the country, as former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi recognized, is proving the new star of the Italian right, Giorgia Meloni. The leader of the Brothers of Italy party has been clamoring for months for the election of the head of state to be reformed, so that it is voted for directly by the citizens. “They would have done it in one day,” said Meloni, who also demands that elections be called as soon as possible to put an early end to this legislature and bury the government of Mario Draghi, supported by a broad and heterogeneous coalition of political forces of which he is not a part. Brothers from Italy. Being precisely the only opposition to the Executive explains why Meloni is today one of the first in voting intentions in the polls.

Her desire to demonstrate at the polls what the polls point to makes Meloni willing for Draghi to be elected President of the Republic in order to dismantle his Cabinet. Their allies in the conservative bloc, Matteo Salvini’s League and Forza Italia, Silvio Berlusconi’s political force, do not seem to be in change for the work. The tycoon, who at 85 years old intended to present himself as a candidate but last Saturday threw in the towel when he verified that he did not have enough support, has been hospitalized in Milan for an infection since that day. «He is better, he is recovering after the bump. He has had bad days », his brother, Paolo Berlusconi, told about him.

frustration on the right

Salvini is not at his best either. Although he started from a position of strength among the conservatives in the presidential election, this Friday he received a resounding setback when his plan to place Maria Elisabetta Caselatti, current president of the Senate, as head of state failed. She obtained 382 votes, far from the necessary absolute majority and even below 65 ballots with respect to the number of voters who are part of the center-right bloc. Taking advantage of the secrecy of the vote, a good handful of conservative legislators chose to bypass the discipline of their parties and turn their backs on Caselatti. They are what in Italian political language is known as ‘snipers’.

Against this background, there are three names that could unclog the current break, according to political analysts. The first is that of Mattarella himself, who would do the parties a great favor if he agreed to repeat in office, although he has repeatedly said that he has no intention of doing so. If convinced, he could agree to an extension for a more limited time than the seven years that a presidential term lasts. He would thus facilitate the continuity of the Draghi Government, the second proper name that is being considered. Although he continues to sound strongly to succeed Mattarella, the current prime minister could remain in office until 2023, when the legislature ends, and already with a new Parliament be elected as head of state when the extension that Mattarella may grant ends.

The third person with the possibility of ending the current paralysis is Pierferdinando Casini, former president of the Chamber of Deputies and of the International Democratic Center and who went from leading the Udc, heir formation of the Christian Democrats, to being elected in the ranks of the center left. His name would probably achieve support in the various ideological blocs.