by Gavin Jones and Angelo Amante
ROME (Reuters) – Italy is still not expected to know the name of its future President of the Republic on Friday, as the two right and left blocs decided not to present a candidate in the sixth round of voting, the second in the day, for lack of compromise on a personality acceptable to both sides.
On the right, the League and Forza Italia have announced that they will abstain from this sixth round. The big voters on the left will vote white, for their part. Neither of the two camps can impose its candidate for lack of an absolute majority within the college of a thousand electors, made up essentially of the elected representatives of the two chambers of Parliament.
A first vote organized on Friday, the fifth since the beginning of the week, had already failed to designate the future head of state, the attempt by right-wing parties to elect the president of the Senate, Elisabetta Casellati, ended in an irrevocable failure.
Long considered the favourite, the President of the Council, Mario Draghi, has seen his chances diminish over the days, many parliamentarians refusing to vote in his favor for fear of breaking up the government coalition, mixing right and left, and triggering anticipated legislation.
The President of the Italian Republic, elected for seven years, essentially has only an honorary role but he can have a decisive influence on the appointment of the President of the Council and can dissolve Parliament.
The negotiations behind the scenes since the beginning of the week seem more and more difficult.
Enrico Letta, the leader of the Democratic Party (PD, center left), ruled on Friday that it was now impossible to trust the right.
“They’ve been leading us on for the past three days,” he told reporters.
A compromise solution would be to re-elect incumbent president Sergio Mattarella, 80, for a second term he has so far ruled out.
Two members of the government told Reuters on Thursday that this outcome was now likely.
(With Giuseppe Fonte, French version Marc Angrand and Bertrand Boucey, edited by Tangi Salaün)