Berliner Boersenzeitung - Italian MPs fail in third bid to elect president

EUR -
AED 4.228628
AFN 81.741899
ALL 97.896197
AMD 444.10639
ANG 2.060733
AOA 1055.916617
ARS 1340.927631
AUD 1.781748
AWG 2.072682
AZN 1.957969
BAM 1.955325
BBD 2.326234
BDT 140.905739
BGN 1.958085
BHD 0.434409
BIF 3431.065746
BMD 1.15149
BND 1.480172
BOB 7.961064
BRL 6.341718
BSD 1.15212
BTN 99.741748
BWP 15.528561
BYN 3.770565
BYR 22569.204363
BZD 2.314337
CAD 1.581445
CDF 3312.836605
CHF 0.941112
CLF 0.028239
CLP 1083.644049
CNY 8.277481
CNH 8.265694
COP 4704.251262
CRC 581.658571
CUC 1.15149
CUP 30.514485
CVE 110.238196
CZK 24.822905
DJF 205.170113
DKK 7.459174
DOP 68.323387
DZD 150.305151
EGP 58.334718
ERN 17.27235
ETB 158.433977
FJD 2.600007
FKP 0.857388
GBP 0.855131
GEL 3.13216
GGP 0.857388
GHS 11.867115
GIP 0.857388
GMD 82.331353
GNF 9982.572766
GTQ 8.855039
GYD 241.041391
HKD 9.03911
HNL 30.090684
HRK 7.535927
HTG 151.216515
HUF 402.955855
IDR 18911.323595
ILS 4.017382
IMP 0.857388
INR 99.72422
IQD 1509.33301
IRR 48506.516947
ISK 143.187275
JEP 0.857388
JMD 183.670924
JOD 0.816384
JPY 167.986853
KES 148.776821
KGS 100.698098
KHR 4617.977413
KMF 492.260958
KPW 1036.295089
KRW 1579.556458
KWD 0.352759
KYD 0.960187
KZT 602.076678
LAK 24856.956102
LBP 103231.099654
LKR 346.223334
LRD 230.428975
LSL 20.802394
LTL 3.40005
LVL 0.696525
LYD 6.280473
MAD 10.516063
MDL 19.811183
MGA 5148.748097
MKD 61.583402
MMK 2417.348879
MNT 4126.518007
MOP 9.315737
MRU 45.543915
MUR 52.53104
MVR 17.738701
MWK 1997.814237
MXN 22.045541
MYR 4.896715
MZN 73.649432
NAD 20.801942
NGN 1786.099183
NIO 42.399691
NOK 11.642773
NPR 159.587197
NZD 1.927261
OMR 0.442783
PAB 1.15212
PEN 4.137294
PGK 4.816975
PHP 65.940073
PKR 326.917511
PLN 4.267479
PYG 9195.764076
QAR 4.202078
RON 5.029942
RSD 117.230875
RUB 90.379371
RWF 1663.746035
SAR 4.320872
SBD 9.60392
SCR 17.305526
SDG 691.473206
SEK 11.141967
SGD 1.481415
SHP 0.90489
SLE 25.850863
SLL 24146.174163
SOS 658.439902
SRD 44.734907
STD 23833.518534
SVC 10.081549
SYP 14971.452166
SZL 20.798394
THB 37.743561
TJS 11.377334
TMT 4.030215
TND 3.410571
TOP 2.696911
TRY 45.688769
TTD 7.830096
TWD 34.027104
TZS 3044.300041
UAH 48.288926
UGX 4152.990212
USD 1.15149
UYU 47.108546
UZS 14469.481787
VES 118.093016
VND 30086.706948
VUV 138.252256
WST 3.167765
XAF 655.81178
XAG 0.032042
XAU 0.000342
XCD 3.111959
XDR 0.816782
XOF 655.797545
XPF 119.331742
YER 279.459226
ZAR 20.730631
ZMK 10364.794335
ZMW 26.643522
ZWL 370.779316
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Italian MPs fail in third bid to elect president
Italian MPs fail in third bid to elect president

Italian MPs fail in third bid to elect president

Italian lawmakers failed Wednesday to elect a new president in a third round of voting, as bickering party leaders blamed each other for pushing the country towards a political crisis.

Text size:

Prime Minister Mario Draghi, who was the frontrunner for the post ahead of the election, pocketed just five votes as parties panicked at the idea of pulling him from his job.

Political analysts have warned that moving the former European Central Bank head to the presidential palace could deal a fatal blow to an already weak ruling coalition, sparking snap elections.

A fourth round of voting will be held Thursday morning and could lead to a breakthrough, as the threshold for victory now falls from a two-thirds majority to an absolute majority.

Italy's president is a ceremonial figure but wields great power in crises. Doubts over candidates led some 412 of the 1,000 or so voting MPs, senators and regional representatives to cast blank ballots Wednesday.

Outgoing 80-year old president Sergio Mattarella -- who has repeatedly ruled out serving a second term -- won the most votes, with 125 ballots.

- Names 'shot down' -

Draghi, 74, who was brought in to lead a national unity government a year ago, had been hailed by some as the best candidate for the seven-year presidential post because of his perceived skill in ensuring political stability.

But most insist he stay as premier to oversee reforms demanded in exchange for funds from the EU's post-pandemic recovery scheme.

Rome is the biggest beneficiary of the programme, to the tune of almost 200 billion euros ($225 billion).

Draghi hinted last month he is interested in becoming head of state but has since remained silent on the issue.

Marco Travaglio, editor of the Fatto Quotidiano daily, compared him Tuesday to Francesco Schettino, the disgraced captain who was convicted of abandoning ship when the Costa Concordia cruise ship sank off Italy in 2012.

"The parties are asking him to stay (as PM), and he wants to escape," he said.

- 'Still in the race' -

Draghi "is still in the race and still has a significant chance" of being elected, Giovanni Orsina, head of the Luiss School of Government in Rome, told AFP.

Former Chamber of Deputies speaker Pier Ferdinando Casini, 66, who got 52 votes Wednesday, had better chances, Orsina said, but warned "things change very quickly".

Matteo Salvini, head of the far-right League party, accused the centre-left of shooting down every single name put forward by the right -- which had initially backed billionaire magnate Silvio Berlusconi.

Berlusconi, who formally withdrew from the race on the weekend, won four votes at Wednesday's ballot.

"I'm trying to negotiate", but "any name I put forward I get 'no' from the opposite side," Salvini said.

He and others on the right flatly rejected a proposal by the leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), Enrico Letta, for a lock-in similar to a papal conclave to force them to find a common candidate.

Letta's suggestion we "shut ourselves in a room, (with just) bread and water" prompted Salvini Wednesday to quip: "if I lose three kilos it won't hurt, but we don't need" a lock-in.

(L.Kaufmann--BBZ)