House MP Stefano Fassina, who
leads a dissenting minority within Premier Matteo Renzi's
Democratic Party (PD), said Thursday "it is no secret" the
premier led a dramatic internal revolt that saw 101 PD lawmakers
sink the party's official candidate to become Italian president,
Romano Prodi, in a secret 2013 vote.
His comments came as the nation's '1,009 grand electors' -
MPs and representatives of the country's 20 regions - prepare to
elect a new president of the Republic in secret votes, starting
on January 29.
In Italy, the president is elected in a joint session by
the 630 members of the House, the 321 members of the Senate plus
58 regional delegates.
"We are serious people, unlike those who...led 101
'snipers' two years ago," Fassina told Rome's Radio Città
Futura.
"I believe people will behave differently on the Italicum
(electoral bill) in the Senate," added Fassina, a junior economy
minister during the preceding, short-lived administration of
fellow PD member Enrico Letta.
"There is a part of the PD that won't vote for it".
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