Piero Grasso is the new president of the Senate. The election to the leadership of Palazzo Madama of the former national anti-mafia prosecutor, now in the Pd share, follows by a few hours that of Laura Boldrini (SEL) in the presidency of the Chamber. The new Parliament thus archives the first case of the XVII republican legislature, entrusting both assemblies to centre-left exponents.
Grasso defeated the outgoing president, Renato Schifani, whose re-nomination was supported by the PDL and the Lega. The election came at the end of the fourth ballot, which saw the former magistrate prevail by 137 votes against 117, with 52 blank ballots and seven voids.
The choice between the two candidates has caused a rift among the senators of the 5 Star Movement: after a long meeting, the grillini have decided not to support either of the two contenders in the ballot, but in the secrecy of the ballot box someone may have violated the directive. Divisions also in Mario Monti's party, Civic Choice, which in the end decided for the blank ballot, but not without strong internal discontent. In the end, Grasso got 15 more votes than the package guaranteed by Pd and Sel.
As for Boldrini, the deputy from Sel achieved the absolute majority of votes necessary for election to the third state office, obtaining 327 preferences. She is the third woman in the history of the Republic to be elected to the presidency of the Chamber. Before her only Nilde Jotti (MP of the PCI) and Irene Pivetti (elected with the League but then left the party of Umberto Bossi).
According to what can be read in the biography published on his website www.lauraboldrini.it, Boldrini worked for over 20 years in United Nations agencies, participating in various missions in crisis areas, including Ex-Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq , Iran, Sudan, Caucasus, Angola and Rwanda.
From 1998 to 2013 she was spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for southern Europe, dealing with migratory flows in the Mediterranean.
