Italy faces the final phase to elect a president between traps, maneuvers and fears of betrayal

• Italy Election of the President of the Republic: "We have to lock ourselves up and throw away the key until we find a name"

• Presidential Vote blank in the first round: Italy slows down the election of president

There is in all Italian political parties a cast of Shakespearean characters. "Villains without conscience, double and triple games, courtiers without morals, suitor in the shadows, ghosts reemerging from the past. But the most abundant category is that of traitors." The journalist

maintains these days that for every Othello in Parliament there is at least one Iago "crouching in the shadows", ready to stab. And that the election of the President of the Republic is forging extraordinary dramas.

This Wednesday the third round of voting was held,

, no less than 673 votes.

As of this Thursday, a majority is enough, 505, and the game really begins.

The third act was very similar to the first two, with 412 blank votes in the great forces and a string of absurd names.

Most distracting, but at least three with succinct messages.

The main one, that of the current president, Sergio Mattarella, who continues to garner support (125 this time) for a position from which he wants to retire at the age of 80.

, but his supporters make it clear that rather than a damaging fix they will promote the Sicilian's 'bis'.

The second,

(114 ballots), a chameleon who comes from the Christian democracy but is chosen by surprise by the Brothers of Italy, the force most to the right of all, led by

. That his people were going to bet on him was known early, but that he got almost twice as many ballots as the number of deputies, senators and regional positions in the party caused a good surprise. A forceful blow from Meloni that thus warns Salvini that he cannot negotiate without taking her into account.

The third face of the day, despite the fact that she only got one vote in the round, was that of

, the Presidency of the Senate and favorite of La Lega.

Those of

have launched her campaign.

They want her to be talked about, to be supported by Five Stars, that the center left

, who could be the first in history.

They want to erode the forces of

, suggesting that they could get his support in exchange for offering the Senate to their own.

And they want to put pressure on

, letting him know that they don't want him, but that if he really aspires to the position he only has to do one thing: start negotiating with them, with real guarantees, about the composition of the next Executive.

Although

is the underdog (discreet by standards, friendly, good relations, acceptable passage for the presidency of Parliament, the right number of problems, enemies and past mistakes)

, Inside and outside of the country.

He has the aura of someone who 'saved the euro' and who put the country on track in the midst of the umpteenth crisis by launching the reform plan to access European funds in the middle of a pandemic.

His election would bring luster to the institution, which over the years is reconfiguring his role and gaining weight in daily politics.

And that, of course, is a problem for many.

, with such clear ideas and so few weak points.

They feel comfortable with traditional candidates, well burdened with corpses, scandals, trouble (of skirts or money), with their enemies and passions.

Draghi is an iceberg, with no debts to pay, apparently.

Without lovers or embezzlement.

And that makes it very dangerous.

They know it in La Liga and Brothers of Italy, who feel (probably rightly) openly despised by the prime minister.

," says one of his deputies.

It happens to Renzi, 'trilero in chief', who has not been able to connect with him.

It happens even to a veteran like

, who after rebuilding the PD and aspiring to more than 25% of the vote in the center left if Cinco Estrellas implodes, would hardly be comfortable with such a heavyweight in the Quirinale. What to say about those of Grillo (or Conte, or Fico or Di Maio, depending on the faction), who have never sympathized.

Nothing is true and everything is possible in the 'great theater' of Montecitorio.

The matches, as we started, are full of Yagos, servants, trusted men (sic) and irreconcilable enemies.

Salvini controls his party (and is perhaps the only one), but while he maneuvers so that the former central banker does not reach the Quirinale, his Yago,

, is one of his main supporters and the great advocate of the thesis that his appointment would mean, de facto, turning towards a presidential system.

and Grillo don't want Draghi even in painting, but Di Maio sees him as reasonable.

Letta has plenty of potential traitors, one per faction, but perhaps the clearest would be Dario Franceschini, Bei maintains in his analysis for 'La Repubblica'.

Everyone undoing in the afternoon what the headliners knit in the morning.

The difference with the Shakespearean tragedy is that Othello thought that his servant was faithful and every Italian politician knows that this does not exist, that there are no friends, only interests.

This week's battle in Rome goes far beyond the office of president, it goes deeper.

At stake is the next Executive, the next elections (scheduled for spring 2023 but which could be brought forward), the salary and pensions of hundreds of deputies who will go to the streets after the reform of the institutions, which will reduce more than a third the size of Congress and Senate.

.

Everyone is risking their future and that is why the first rounds, the preferences or the red lines do not matter so much, but survival and being positioned for the next phase.

Ideals are all well and good, but no one wants to be left alone, in bans or bans, in a game that unfolds at breakneck speed in constant meetings behind closed doors.

If there are pacts, you have to be inside or be able to stop them, and that's why when everyone can stab you with a dagger, you always need another pair of eyes to watch your back.

What is expected, perhaps, is that they were those of colleagues and partners, but if Italian politics has taught anything in the last six decades, it is that

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• matthew renzi

• Matteo Salvini

• Sergio Mattarella

• Italy

Wide AngleItaly against itself: it chooses a president rushing the miracle of Mario Draghi

ItalyItaly chooses president with all players hiding their cards

Questions with AnswersItaly elects president: step by step of a cumbersome and decisive process

See links of interest

• Last News

• Ukraine

• Translator

• Work calendar 2022

• how to

• Home THE WORLD today

• Real Madrid - Unics Kazan, live