Angelo Amante and Gavin Jones

ROME (Reuters). Italy’s parliament started a fifth attempt at electing a president. The centre-right parties announced that they would push for Elisabetta Casellati to be elected Senate speaker.

This would be an obvious snub for the centre-left, after so many days of useless talk about needing to elect a consensus candidate who can win broad cross-party support.

Casellati comes from Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia Party, which is one of three parties that makes up the conservative alliance with the leftist League and Brothers of Italy.

It is very important. The seven-year term of the Italian presidency is for seven years. It also has significant power to solve political crises in Italy, such as appointing prime minsters or dissolving parliament.

As the right lacks the votes needed to elect the president, it must use unaffiliated lawmakers and centre-left defectors to win the election. It is not clear if the confrontational approach of the right will succeed.

These votes include the 5-Star Movement which, while the largest in parliament, is divided internally and is hard for Giuseppe Conte (ex-premier) to control.

At 1000 GMT, voting started.

While Prime Minister Mario Draghi still has a chance, many legislators are reluctant to vote for him this week. This is partly due to their fear of a change in the government that could lead to an early election.

Giorgia, the leader of Brothers of Italy has been pressing for a display of force from right. She said that she was happy it would try to elect its own candidate instead of casting blank ballots, or continuing to abstain.

She said that “the centre-right must show it’s compact” amid speculation that lawmakers will ignore their leaders.

TRUST DISREPUTATION

Leader of the center-left Democratic Party Enrico Letta said Friday that it was impossible to trust the right.

He said to reporters, “They’ve taken us on a ride the past three days,” ahead of a meeting with centre-left representatives in parliament.

The fourth vote of the week was not held by either the centre right or left-leaning parties. It came after a variety of candidates had been eliminated, which opened up for intense negotiations behind the scenes.

Even though Sergio Mattarella is now 80 years old, it’s possible that the move by the centre-right on Friday fails to materialize.

Two officials from the government confirmed to Reuters Thursday that Mattarella’s reelection is a very real possibility.

Party representatives decided Friday, after four unsuccessful days, that two rounds would now be held per day until the election of a president.

Unlike in the United States or France, where presidents get elected in a popular vote, in Italy some 1,009 parliamentarians and regional representatives pick the head of state in a secret ballot https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italian-presidential-elections-shrouded-parliamentary-secrecy-2022-01-13, which party leaders sometimes struggle to control.

A candidate can only be elected with the absolute majority (or 505 votes).

Mattarella received 166 votes, which is more than any other candidate for the second consecutive day, despite the fact that the chiefs of the major parties instructed their legislators to vote abstain.

Other than Mattarella and Draghi, many other potential candidates have been cited, sometimes only to be rejected by the opposing side in hours.

Elisabetta belloni is a career diplomat and heads secret services. Sabino Cassese is an 86 year-old ex-jude at the Constitutional Court.

Others possible candidates include Pier Ferdinando Casini (ex-speaker lower house), Giuliano Amato (ex-premier), and Elisabetta Casellati, Senate speaker.

Marta Cartabia, Justice Minister, was previously the chair of the constitution court.