ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s
lawmakers has failed for a second day running to elect a new head of state, with party leaders struggling to find a consensus candidate.
Although Prime Minister Mario Draghi remains a frontrunner, worries that his promotion to president might cause his coalition government to disintegrate and trigger early national elections have clouded his prospects.
Much is at stake. The Italian presidency comes with a seven-year mandate and has considerable power - including appointing prime ministers and dissolving parliament - to resolve political crises that regularly batter the country.
After days of behind-the-scenes meetings, center-right parties named three possible candidates from conservative ranks that they said deserved consideration - a former Senate speaker, a former mayor of Milan, and a retired magistrate.
The center-left bloc swiftly dismissed the trio and called for talks with the center-right on Wednesday to resolve the dispute, which risks destabilizing Italy as it struggles to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and rebuild its shaky economy.
Unlike in the United States or France, where presidents get elected, in Italy, some 1,009 parliamentarians and regional representatives choose the new president by secret ballot, which party leaders sometimes struggle to control.
The center-right has more electors than the center-left bloc, but neither side has enough votes to ram through their candidate, meaning some sort of compromise deal will be needed.