5th Italian presidential vote fails as stalemate endures

ROME

Italy’s parliament looked unlikely Friday to break a five-day stalemate over the election of a new president as political parties remained at odds over the crucial decision.

A fifth vote was held in which the center-right bloc tried and failed to elect Senate speaker Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati. The center-left boycotted it, considering her too partisan for the post.

Out of 1,009 national and regional lawmakers eligible to vote, only 530 took part, and Casellati, who needed to clear the majority of 505, garnered 382 votes.

The result was a rout for Casellati but also the frontman of the center-right bloc, Matteo Salvini of the League party, as it showed that dozens of voters from the bloc, which on paper commands about 450 votes, refused to back her.

The Senate leader, 75, would have been Italy’s first female head of state.

Earlier Friday, she was endorsed by former conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whom she had defended strenuously when he was accused of soliciting sex from an underage prostitute in the “bunga bunga” affair. Berlusconi was tried and eventually acquitted.

Casellati’s defeat left parties scrambling for a bipartisan solution, which is proving elusive.

Growing bad blood

The presidential election, which started Monday, is leaving Italy in limbo amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic, public concern about rising energy prices, and the risk of war in Europe with tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who has long been one of the top contenders for the presidency, said in December that the election should be a consensual affair, involving all parties backing his grand coalition government.

But they have failed to thrash out a deal, and relations between key players were souring.

On Friday, Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta expressed “profound disappointment” as he accused the center-right of trying to sow divisions, rather than work toward a consensus candidate.

“We trusted them until now, I hope we did not make a mistake,” he said.

Antonio Tajani, the deputy leader of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, shot back: “We only got vetoes from the left, which however never makes proposals.”

Negotiations were set to continue into the evening as parliament decided Friday to move from one to two presidential votes per day. The first vote began at 11 a.m. (1000GMT) and the second was due to start at 5 p.m. (1600GMT).

Draghi, the ex-president of the European Central Bank, is highly respected internationally, but there are concerns that moving him to the presidency would make it difficult to create a new government, possibly triggering early elections that most parties do not want.

Ex-parliament speaker Pier Ferdinando Casini has also been tipped as a top bipartisan candidate. The re-election of outgoing head of state Sergio Mattarella is another option, though he has said he wants to retire.

In Italy, presidents are the cornerstone of the political system, serving a seven-year tenure, while prime ministers change almost yearly. Presidents name prime ministers, call elections, influence government policy discreetly and can veto laws or ministerial appointments.