La Russa elected Senate Speaker without FI's votes

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 13 - Former defence minister and Brothers of Italy (FdI) co-founder Ignazio La Russa was elected the new Speaker of the Italian Senate on Thursday but without the votes of the right-wing party's allies in Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia.
    La Russa got 116 votes, 12 more than the majority of 104 needed.
    There were 65 blank papers cast, while two votes went to League bigwig Roberto Calderoli and two went to Life Senator and Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre, who was presiding over proceedings as the acting president of the Upper House.
    Likely future premier Giorgia Meloni, whose FdI was the driving force of the right-wing coalition's victory in last month's general election, congratulated La Russa, describing him as a "patriot, a servant of the State, a man in love with Italy".
    She said he had "always put the national interest before anything else" and was a "friend, a brother and an example" to generations of people in the party.
    "I thank all those who, out of a sense of responsibility at a time when Italy demands immediate responses, have made it possible to elect the State's second highest official in the first round of voting". (ANSA).