Italy’s 80-year-old president wins vote to stay
ROME — Italian President Sergio Mattarella has been elected to a second seven-year term as the country’s head of state, ending days of political impasse as party leaders struggled to pick his successor.
Earlier on Saturday, lawmakers entreated Mattarella, 80, who had said he didn’t want a second mandate, to change his mind and agree to reelection by lawmakers in Parliament and regional delegates.
That move followed days of fruitless efforts by political leaders to reach a consensus on a candidate.
Mattarella won in the eighth round of voting when he clinched the minimum of 505 votes needed from the 1,009 Grand Electors.
In the run-up to the presidential election this week, Mattarella repeatedly said he didn’t want another stint. He even rented an apartment in Rome to prepare for his move from the presidential palace atop the Quirinal Hill.
But after a seventh round of balloting in six days in Parliament by lawmakers and special regional representatives failed to yield any consensus on a presidential candidate, party whips and regional governors visited Mattarella at the presidential palace to solicit his willingness to serve again.
Rai state TV said Premier Mario Draghi, a non-partisan former chief of the European Central Bank who is leading a pandemic unity government, telephoned party leaders to encourage the lobbying.
Draghi had indicated he would be willing to move into the president’s role, but some feared that would prompt an early election.
Democratic Party chief Enrico Letta, whose Senate whip was among lawmakers meeting Saturday with Mattarella, indicated that Italy’s head of state had agreed to serve again.