The turning point came in the fifth vote for the election of the President of the Republic. The centre-right has decided to vote for the current president of the Senate, Elisabetta Casellati.
To the vote on Casellati
Casellati's candidacy represents a stretch that has a double purpose: on the one hand "count" the votes of the coalition and see if the 457 electors of the centre-right manage to remain united, on the other attempting a "coup", hoping that thethe centre-left splits. Attention is directed above all to the 5 Star Movement, over which the leader Giuseppe Conte does not have complete control and which has indeed for some time been divided into factions in stark contrast to each other. If the exponents of the Movement more oriented to the right decide to vote for Casellati, the Quirinal party could already close on the fifth vote, even if the chances of scraping together the 48 votes needed achieving an absolute majority of 505 Electors seems remote. Especially to see what he will do the huge Misto group present in Parliament, which given the numbers in its possession could become the real tip of the balance.
On the president of the Senate Casellati “the center-right must demonstrate compactness. It's good that you check the numbers in the classroom. It's something we've been asking for a long time,” he said Giorgia Meloni, coming out of the center-right vertex. “I am happy – said the Fdi leader – that the center-right is moving together in any case. So far we have proved our compactness. On the other hand they talk about us but it's not clear what proposal they have and if they are in agreement with each other on something”. According to Meloni, the trend of the situation confirms that the solution is "early elections and the direct election of the Head of State"
The reaction of the centre-left
What it is the position of the Pd Elisabetta Casellati's candidacy has been known for days. “Proposing the candidacy of the second state office, together with the opposition, against one's government allies would be an operation never seen in the history of the Quirinale. Absurd and incomprehensible. In short, it would represent the most direct way to blow everything up ”, said the secretary of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta. A thesis also supported by the leader of Italia Viva, Matteo Renzi and confirmed today by many exponents of the centre-left, according to whom the election of Casellati to the Presidency of the Republic would seriously the holding of the majority is at risk and the very survival of the government led by Mario Draghi.
“I'm sincerely wondering if I was right to trust, we were taken around for three days”, Enrico Letta said this morning. “We have always worked for unity. The impression is that they have tried to divide us, with imaginative ideas with the aim of dividing and not finding a solution for the country,” added the secretary of the Democratic Party.
What will the center-left do today? The intention seems to be to answer the second call and then abstain from voting. Italia Viva, on the other hand, will not participate in the vote.
The second vote
The other big news today concerns the double calls. In the (probable) case in which it is not possible to elect the new President of the Republic during the fifth ballot, the sixth will take place in the afternoon, starting at 17. The group leaders decided it. Any votes tomorrow will be held at 9.30 and 16.30.
In the background they remain the other candidates. The names of Prime Minister Mario Draghi, of the number one of Italian intelligence Elisabetta Belloni and of the long-time parliamentarian Pier Ferdinando Casini have been circulating for days now. The possible ascent to Colle of the President of the Council of State Franco Frattini, feared yesterday evening, seems very difficult considering the veto placed by the Democratic Party. In the background also the figures of Giampiero Massolo, Sabino Cassese and Luciano Violante. Despite the repeated refusals, the possibility of a second term for the outgoing President Sergio Mattarella, after the shower of votes received on the fourth ballot.
“I do not exclude the hypothesis that there may also be a Mattarella encore – Matteo Renzi confirmed this morning on Radio Leopolda -, it would be a stretch against Mattarella and extremely incorrect but on Friday morning either the story will be resolved in the next few hours or this hypothesis is in the field with all its strength ".
