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Italy president poll goes to second round
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Apr 18, 2013 07:05am |
| Category | News |
| News Date | Apr 18, 2013 07:00am |
| Description | Franco Marini, former centre-left speaker of Italy’s senate, failed to win the two-thirds majority needed to be elected the country’s next head of state in a first round of voting in parliament on Thursday, despite joint support for his candidacy from his own Democratic party and centre-right rivals led by Silvio Berlusconi.
Mr Marini won 521 votes out of a possible 1,007 in the secret ballot, falling well short of the 672 needed to secure election. A second round of voting is due to begin later on Thursday. From the fourth round onwards, to be held on Friday, the threshold needed to secure election is reduced to an absolute majority of 504.
An agreement on Mr Marini reached late on Wednesday between Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the Democrats, and Mr Berlusconi, former prime minister, has opened deep divisions within the centre-left party and caused a rift with Left Ecology and Liberty (Sel), its leftwing ally in February’s inconclusive general elections.
The election of a new head of state to succeed Giorgio Napolitano, whose seven-year term ends in mid-May, is seen as a crucial step towards either the formation of a new government or the dissolution of parliament once more pending fresh elections, possibly in early July. While Mr Marini still has a chance of election in the next rounds, his worse than expected showing does not bode well for an early resolution of Italy’s political deadlock. |
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