Italian President Sergio Mattarella was re-elected on Saturday after a parliamentary marathon that exposed the deep divisions between the parties in government in a pivotal period for the post-Covid recovery.
Italian parliamentarians have been applauding for 3 minutes … Sergio #Mattarella received 506 votes. He is re-elected president. What exactly are they applauding? There is especially relief in the spans… #Italy #Quirinale2022 pic.twitter.com/0Jt77fkBNu
— Alban Mikoczy (@AlbanMikoczy) January 29, 2022
At 80, Sergio Mattarella, whose mandate ended on February 3, was re-elected for a second seven-year term by winning an absolute majority of 505 votes out of 1,009 senators, deputies and regional officials called to vote. The counting of the ballots continued in the hemicycle of the Chamber of Deputies in Rome and the final count of the ballot was to be known before 9 p.m.
Shortly after Sergio Mattarella’s re-election, Emmanuel Macron tweeted to congratulate his transalpine counterpart: “I know I can count on your commitment to keep the friendship between our countries alive, as well as this united, strong and prosperous Europe that we are building”writes the French president.
Congratulations, dear Sergio, on your re-election. I know I can count on your commitment to keep the friendship between our countries alive, as well as this united, strong and prosperous Europe that we are building. https://t.co/wR74erwFMT
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 29, 2022
In Italy, the President of the Republic has a usually discreet role in the political life of the country. Head of the armed forces and of the state, he appoints the head of government and, on the latter’s proposal, the ministers. He also chairs the Superior Council of the Judiciary, appoints one third of the members of the Constitutional Court, signs international treaties and has the right of pardon.
But when a crisis erupts, the president returns to the center of the game with essential powers: as “guarantor of the Constitution”he indeed organizes the consultations on the formation of the government and has a certain latitude on the choice of the Prime Minister, which he had used in February 2021 to solicit the participation of Mario Draghi in the formation of the new government.