The Italian Parliament must elect Monday, January 24 the successor to Sergio Mattarella as President of the Republic. After weeks of preparations, Italian politics is in the dark. No name seems able today to obtain the necessary qualified majority. The first twist of this election: after two months of intense campaigning, the only official candidate for office, Silvio Berlusconi, finally gave up running. The former Prime Minister implicitly acknowledged that he had no chance.
With our correspondent in Rome, Anne Treca
It was his childhood dream: to become president. Finally the Cavaliere abandoned the race on Saturday evening. He was far from mustering enough voters to win. And we have since learned that he was in fact quietly hospitalized in Milan a few days ago.
The right-wing parties must find a replacement for him by tomorrow.
On the left, a few names have been put forward, but none yet seem to be unanimous.
However, the particular difficulty of this election is that no political group is strong enough to impose a candidate on its own. The leaders of the various parties are therefore all looking for a personality capable of uniting enough right, left and center voters.
Mario Draghi, the current Prime Minister, is the favorite of the Italians. He could gather. But many parliamentarians fear that the presidential election will be followed by a change of government, or even a political crisis.
Aggravating circumstances: party leaders are struggling to hold their troops. Voting is by secret ballot. Voting booth betrayals are commonplace.
No one this Sunday evening is in a position to make a prediction.