Premier Mario Draghi on Saturday
asked President Sergio Mattarella to rethink his determination
to retire and instead stay in place as head of state as a
stalemate continued over the Italian presidential vote.
A majority summit then agreed to call on the president to remain
in place. Majority whips will go to the Quirinale Palace to
voice their support for the head of State Saturday afternoon.
The re-election of the 80-year-old president now appears likely
in the eighth presidential ballot which starts at half past four
with the result expected at around dinner time Saturday evening.
Draghi reportedly told Mattarella and party leaders it was right
for the head of state to remain in place "for the good and
stability of the country", sources said.
The premier and former European Central Bank president urged
party leaders to ask Mattarella to reconsider his oft-stated
wish to retire, although Draghi also stressed that the decision
was in parliament's hands.
Earlier the majority parties said they would either desert the
seventh ballot Saturday afternoon or cast blank votes in the bid
to elect Mattarella's successor.
Mattarella's star is rising as he gains increasing votes amid
the deadlock despite having repeatedly insisted he does not want
to stay on.
Several MPs said they would now vote for him after Draghi
appeal.
Rightwing League party leader and former deputy premier and
anti-migrant interior minister Matteo Salvini also said "we
don't think it is serious to continue with Nos and cross-vetoes
and (we should) ask the president to reconsider (his retirement
from public life)".
""Draghi should stay on as premier and Mattarella should stay at
the Quirinale (presidential palace".
Centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader and former premier
Enrico Letta also threw the PD's weight behind Mattarella's
re-election, albeit perhaps for a shorter term than the
statutory seven years, by saying "we should heed the wisdom of
the chambers" referring to the high vote for the outgoing
president in the sixth ballot, 366 out of a required majority of
505.
Mattarella got even more, 387 votes, in the seventh ballot
Saturday and was widely expected to pass the 505 mark needed to
be elected Saturday evening.
However, he has yet to say whether he might change his mind and
accept the honour. Mattarella has already started moving out of
the Quirinale Palace and has rented a flat in Rome.
Mattarella's predecessor Giorgio Napolitano is the only Italian
president to have been re-elected, albeit reluctantly, serving
another two years before standing down.
One of Salvini's two partners, Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia
(FI) party, says it is backing former House Speaker Pier
Ferdinando Casini in a break with its rightwing allies.
But Casini also said "parliament must ask Mattarella to stay in
place", saying he himself was dropping out of the race.
Leading PD Senator Andrea Marcucci said "this afternoon we will
re-elect a great president".
Italia Viva (IV) leader Matteo Renzi, another former premier
said "the agreement on Mattarella is a great joy".
Health Minister and leftwing Free and Equal (LeU) party leader
Roberto Speranza described the likely re-election as a "very
great joy".
Letta tweeted a photo of Mattarella saying "thank you
president".
The other rightwing party leader, opposition Brothers of Italy
(FdI) chief Giorgia Meloni, said she could not believe that
Salvini was calling for Mattarella to stay on and said she would
be "amazed" if the president agreed to the call.
Letta, the PD leader, said previously a roster of names had been
discussed with formerly populist 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader
Conte and Salvini including bookies' favourite Draghi,
Mattarella, Justice Minister Marta Cartabia, former justice
minister Paola Severino, Belloni, Constitutional Court chief and
former premier Giuliano Amato and Casini.
Neither the centre-left or the centre-right bloc has enough
votes on its own to carry the election.
The centre right abstained in the sixth ballot while the centre
left cast blank ballots.
There were two rounds of voting scheduled on both Saturday and
Sunday. In the past it has taken as many as 23 rounds to elect a
new president.
On Friday 75-year-old Senate Speaker Elisabetta Casellati failed
in her bid to become Italy's first female president.
The seventh ballot of the 1,009 grand electors - lawmakers from
both houses of parliament and regional representatives - started
at 09:30 Saturday and the count
ended at about 13:45.
There will be an eighth ballot Saturday evening, with two more
scheduled on Sunday if needed, although that likelihood is scant
given the support Mattarella now has.
A simple majority of the 1,009 electors is needed to elect a new
president, so the magic number is 505.
In the fifth ballot Casellati got 382 votes while 406 grand
electors abstained.
Mattarella, who is coming to the end of his seven-year term and
has said he does not want to be re-elected, got 46 votes, down
from 166 in Thursday's fourth ballot, in the fifth ballot but
that number surged to 366 in Friday night's sixth ballot and to
387 in Saturday's first vote.
The centre right's decision to vote for Casellati caused tension
within the broad coalition supporting Draghi's government.
Despite polling in the single figures, Draghi had remained the
bookies' favourite to get the top institutional post in the
eurozone's third-largest economy and his chances are reportedly
rising as the stalemate continued.
But many MPs feared the election of the euro's saviour as ECB
chief would lead to them losing their seats in a snap election a
year before the natural end of the parliamentary term.
Many MPs and the domestic and international business community
were also worried that the departure of Mr 'Whatever It Takes'
might jeopardise key reforms to the justice and tax systems and
public administration needed to secure almost 200 billion euros
in EU post-COVID recovery funds, helping turn Italy into a more
modern, efficient and greener economy.
The president is a largely ceremonial figure representing
national unity and upholding the Constitution as a sort of moral
compass for the nation, but the person can wield power in
government crises by naming premiers and rejecting ministers,
while they may also ask parliament to reconsider legislation.
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