Lawmakers from both houses of
parliament and regional representatives will start the process
of electing Italy's new president on Monday.
In total 1009 'grand electors' will decide on who succeeds
President Sergio Mattarella, whose seven-year term is coming to
an end.
They are comprised of 321 Senators, 630 Lower House MPs and 58
regional delegates - three for each region, except for Valle
d'Aosta, which gets only one.
There is set to be one vote a day and a majority of two-thirds
of the 'grand electors', 673, is needed to vote in a new
president in the first three ballots.
After which a simple majority of 505 is sufficient.
On Friday Premier Mario Draghi's government passed a decree to
allow the 'grand electors' who are positive for COVID-19 to go
out to vote at a 'drive-through' voting station that is being
set up for them in the Lower House's car park.
The leaders of Italy's political parties have been holding
meeting for days in view of the election and talks are
intensifying as the election approaches.
The president is much more than a figurehead and symbol of
national unity.
Under the Constitution, the head of State acts as a sort of
referee of Italian politics and the role is especially important
at times of political crisis.
The centre right has been considering backing ex-premier Silvio
Berlusconi to be Mattarella's replacement but there are doubts
about the Forza Italia leader's chances of taking the top job
due to staunch opposition from the Democratic Party (PD) and the
5-Star Movement (M5S).
They have been saying the president should be a more impartial
figure.
ANSA sources said Berlusconi was set to decide whether to seek
election as president by Sunday.
Vittorio Sgarbi, an art critic and Forza Italia MP, said the
media billionaire might be thinking about an alternative name to
propose instead of his own.
League leader Matte Salvini said Friday that he would "make one
or two high-level proposals" that no one would be able to veto.
Draghi is among the favourites to be the nation's next
president, although if the former ECB chief is elected head of
State, it could lead to early elections.
This is because many find it hard to imagine the broad spectrum
of parties supporting his national unity executive agreeing to
get behind another figure.
There has also been talk of Mattarella being re-elected,
something that has only happened once previously, with his
predecessor Giorgio Napolitano, and staying on, although
possibly not for the whole of the seven-year term.
The 80-year-old appeared to rule that out on Thursday, telling
the the judiciary's self-governing body, the Supreme Council of
Magistrates (CSM), that it will soon be presided over by a new
head of State.
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