They overlook on the scene the snipers. In the context of the fifth vote for the election of the President of the republic, the candidacy of Elisabetta Casellati stops with 382 votes, a far lower number than the 453 electors of the centre-right and the 441 who abstained in yesterday's session. But above all, a result far from the threshold of 400 votes, the limit set by the coalition formed by Lega, Forza Italia and Fratelli d'Italia to try again in the second vote (the sixth) scheduled from 17 pm this afternoon.
The snipers return to Montecitorio
On balance, therefore, they should be at least 71 snipers which have definitively scuttled the candidacy of the current President of the Senate, who has become the "sacrificial victim" of this election, as happened to Romano Prodi in 2013 and to many other prominent figures in the previous presidential elections.
As usual in these cases, bad moods begin to spread in the “defeated” coalition. Under accusation are Couraggio Italia and Forza Italia (the latter party to which Casellati belongs), with the League underlining its compactness and saying to look elsewhere. Even clearer is the leader of Fdi, Giorgia Meloni, which comments through a note: “Fratelli d'Italia, even in the fifth vote, confirms itself as a solid and loyal party. Even the League holds. Not so for others. There are those who have openly worked since the beginning in this election to prevent the historic election of a centre-right president. The tens of millions of Italians who believe in us do not deserve to be treated like this. We need to take note of it, and I will talk about it with Matteo Salvini, to find out what he thinks about it ”.
The result comes later to a "forcing" of the centre-right, who this morning had decided to run for the second position in the state, despite the fact that heavy vetoes had already been expressed on his name in recent days by the Democratic Party and Italia Viva. Instead, the leader of the 5 Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte, seemed to be more optimistic, who however this morning had harshly criticized the method used by the center-right coalition, announcing the abstention of his party, hand in hand with that of the majority allies Pd and Leu (there were a total of 406 abstentions).
Towards the sixth vote
"Now the second half begins”, now say the representatives of both factions, with the center-left ready to start negotiations galvanized by the result of the fifth vote and the center-right which, after having come to terms with the uncomfortable reality, could be willing to negotiate on a super partes name .
The totonomi, on the other hand, has never stopped with the various figures who gain or lose support from one hour to the next. He has recovered strength the candidacy of Pier Ferdinando Casini, on which the votes of both sides could converge, while the figure of the Premier always stands out in the background Mario Draghi, closed in Palazzo Chigi waiting to understand what the decisions of the parties will be. The possibility of a second term for the outgoing President should also be taken into consideration, despite the repeated refusals Sergio Mattarella, After the shower of votes received at the fourth vote (today there were 44).
"I do not exclude the hypothesis that there may also be a Mattarella bis - 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 his strength.
On the table, even the names of figures far from politics such as Sabino Cassese and Giampiero Massolo.
