ROME – Sergio Mattarella has been re-elected as president, confirmed the Speaker of the Chamber Roberto Fico on Saturday. With 759 votes, he is the second most voted president in Italian history. An eighth ballot was held Saturday after yet another stalemate the previous day. Mattarella received 336 votes in Friday’s ballot, which showed growing support among electors for trying to persuade him to accept at least a short second term as a way out of the impasse during the pandemic emergency. Speculation that Elisabetta Belloni, a career diplomat who is head of the Italian secret services, might be elected, increased Friday evening after League leader Matteo Salvioni told reporters "we are working to get a woman president." However the centrist Italy Values party headed by former premier Matteo Renzi indicated it would veto Belloni.  

 In the first of two votes Friday only 382 ballots were cast for the candidature of Elisabetta Casellati, the Senate Speaker from media mogul Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, parliamentary officials said.

 The requested majority has dropped from two-thirds to a simple majority after the fourth vote led to another stalemate but scores of the 453 centre-right electors evidently failed to rally to Casellati while as many as 46 electors voted for President Sergio Mattarella despite the centre left Democratic Party and the Five Star Movement abstaining in the ballot. A sixth vote to try and elect a president was being held Friday evening starting at 5 p.m. 

 On Thursday there were just 166 votes for Sergio Mattarella, 261 blank votes and 441 abstentions.

 "If possible, the chaos around the election of this president is increasing," commented Francesca Schianchi in La Stampa.

 Pier Ferdinando Casini and the prime minister, Mario Draghi, were among the most accredited alternatives to break the stalemate, commentators claimed.

 Silvio Berlusconi posted on social media Friday to say, "I turn to parliamentarians from all sides, to ask them to support Casellati. We absolutely must put an end to the current indecent spectacle that politics is giving of itself to Italians and that public opinion is no longer able to understand and tolerate."

 However, the centre-left cast blank ballots in rejection of the Senate Speaker as president.

 Matteo Renzi, leader of liberal Italia Viva, said he has not ruled out asking President Sergio Mattarella to extend his term. On Radio Leopola Friday morning he said, "it would be a stretch for Mattarella and far from ideal, but today either the matter will be resolved or this possibility is a strong contender."

 Forza Italia have confirmed they would prefer Draghi to stay in his role as Prime Minister and have lent their support to Casini for president.

 Like the Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, the Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta still supports Draghi for president, however some of his party members have shown preference for Casini or Mattarella.

 Meanwhile the head of the Five Star Movement Giuseppe Conte supports the director of security and intelligence services, Elisabetta Belloni, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano.

  jp-ln