Italy: Sergio Mattarella agrees to serve a second presidential term

President Mattarella surrounded by his counterparts from the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and the Constitutional Court.

Quirinal Palace, in Rome, this Saturday January 29, 2022. AFP - HANDOUT

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Sergio Mattarella should come back.

The President of the Italian Republic had indicated that he did not want it, but the stability of the country would be at stake. Since the beginning of the week, Parliament has not been able to agree on a name.

It must be said that neither the left nor the right has a majority.

Barring a dramatic change, the electors should therefore ask Mattarella to serve a second term.

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With our correspondent in Rome,

An eighth ballot was underway this Saturday, January 29 in the Italian Parliament.

The deputies and senators again paraded in front of the ballot boxes.

At the time of publishing these lines, we expected in the evening a very comfortable majority on the name of Sergio Mattarella.

The end of an electric week in Rome.

In this very special election, where there is no candidate, but where one is chosen by the grand electors, at 80, the outgoing president has proved to be the only personality capable of obtaining votes in almost all political families.

The former governor of the European Central Bank,

, was the favorite last week, but he did not convince the big voters.

However, his position as Prime Minister is confirmed.

One would be tempted to say "saved", so difficult was this election, with a real risk of total political crisis.

Because this is the condition that President Mattarella set in the afternoon to play extra time which he did not want: the parties of the government majority undertake to continue to work together.

With the Mattarella-Draghi tandem, Italian elected officials should therefore vote for continuity.

►Read again: No white smoke in Italy, the vote for the presidency continues

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• Italy

• Sergio Mattarella