Judge Sergio Mattarella elected Italian president
January 31, 2015
Sergio Mattarella enjoyed the backing of the center-left Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. He succeeds the very popular head of state Giorgio Napolitano, who at 89 is stepping down due to his advanced age.
The incoming president is a former Christian Democrat minister from Sicily. He was active in politics from 1983 to 2008, and was promoted to the Constitutional Court in 2011. Mattarella has a reputation for moral integrity and anti-Mafia credentials in Italy, but he is little known on the international stage.
"He is going to be a great president: solid, authoritative and independent," said former premier Enrico Letta ahead of Saturday's key vote.
Three previous votes on Thursday and Friday were inconclusive after the ruling center-left Democratic Party told its deputies to cast blank ballots. The party had judged that there was not enough support to garner the then-required two-thirds majority.
However, for Saturday's fourth-round vote, the threshold was a simple majority and Mattarella was elected.
The Italian president has ceremonial duties, but he also acts as political arbiter. The president's influence usually increases in times of crisis because he can reject laws, call snap elections and nominate prime ministers.
das/cmk (AFP, dpa)