Italian Mattarella has agreed to run for president for a second term Politics News

Political parties agree to a second seven-year term after no acceptable alternative candidate is found.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella has agreed to run for a second term, with senior politicians saying on Saturday that the parties could not find an alternative candidate to each other in the week of frequent parliamentary voting.

The 80-year-old has long been reluctant to run for office, but has agreed to remain in office after Italian government parties – which failed to find a candidate for a deal a week in parliament – asked him to run for office.

“President Sergio Mattarella’s willingness to run for a second term, at the request of the vast majority of political parties, shows his sense of responsibility and commitment to the country and its institutions,” Mariastella Gelmini said on Saturday.

Center-left Democratic Party (PD) leader Enrico Letta, who defended Mattarella’s re-election, spoke to reporters to thank President Mattarella for his “generous choice of country.”

This is the second time in a row that a president has been asked to renew his seven-year term. In 2013, political leaders handed the cap to incumbent Giorgio Napolitano, who also failed to find a consensus candidate.

Napolitano reluctantly agreed, but resigned two years later after establishing a new government, paving the way for Mattarella.

Mattarella may resign when the political situation allows, the comments said.

The sterile efforts to replace him they have left deep scars on the parties and their leaders, particularly troubled by the center-right alliance after losing some form of unity in the last 24 hours.

While both Salvini’s League and Forza Italia seized the opportunity to maintain the status quo, his allies, the Italian Brothers who had not joined them in the governing coalition, denounced the backward maneuvers.

“Once again, Parliament has shown that it is not suitable for Italians,” said Italian Brotherhood leader Giorgia Meloni, who accused her allies of “exchanging” the presidency until the government remains in force until the end of the 2023 legislature.

Influence role

The stakes have been high. The president is a powerful figure in the presidency of Italy, and has been called upon to resolve the eurozone’s third-largest political crisis, with governments surviving an average of about a year.

Unlike in the United States or France, where heads of state are elected by popular vote, in Italy, 1,009 parliamentarians and regional representatives are elected by secret ballot, which is sometimes difficult for party leaders to control.

With the threat of taking charge of the situation themselves, MPs have given Mattarella more and more support in the daily vote, and his number has risen to 387 on Saturday, from 125 on Wednesday.

A successful candidate needs 505 votes to win and Mattarella was ready to comfortably cross the threshold in the eighth ballot, which started at 15:30 GMT and is expected to last about three hours.