Italy

Election of the President of the Republic

Rules, procedure and an analysis of the (typically) political match of 2013 Head of State election

April 2013

2013 election of the President of the Republic

Saturday 20 April. Giorgio Napolitano was re-elected as President of the Italian Republic in the sixth round.

On the average, from the birth of the Republic, ten rounds were necessary to elect the Head of State.

Giorgio Napolitano is the first President in the history of the Italian Republic to be re-elected for a second term.

Any Italian citizen who is fifty or older and enjoys civil and political rights can be elected President.

The 1.007 electors

The President is elected by the Parliament in joint session.

Who is entitled to vote?

• 630 Chamber of Deputies (Lower House) members;

• 319 Senators (315 elected + 4 senators for life);

• 58 regional representatives appointed by the Regional Councils (three for each Region, except for Valle d’Aosta which has only one). The procedure provides that one of the three representatives is the President of the Region while the remaining 2 are chosen from the majority and from the opposition respectively. The choice is up to political groups within the Regional Council.

Steps

In the first three rounds a two-third majority of the electors is required (672/1007).

Starting from the fourth round the absolute majority is needed(504/1007).

2013 first round was held on 18 April and it ended up with no result.

The procedure

The election must be held by a secret ballot: a key element to understand the lack of discipline within parliamentary groups.

There are neither official candidacies, nor formal debate on possible candidates: the election of the President is a “Conclave”, where the electors go for consecutive votings. Negotiations are carried out unofficially, between a round and the other.

The balance of political forces in 2013 Parliament

The seats

Centre-left

Five Star Movement

Monti’s group

Others

Centre-right

First Scenario. “The broad agreement”

> Formula. The two major parties (PD and PdL) agree on an authoritative candidate representing the national unity. In thiscase case, the President is elected in one of the first rounds.

> Historical precedent. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, elected in the first round on 13 May 1999. The so called "Ulivo coalition" (centre-left) is ruling the Country, but opposition parties agree on Ciampi’scandidacy as well.

> 2013 favourite candidate. Franco Marini, as a result of the agreement between Bersani and Berlusconi. This choice tears apart the PD group whose members do not follow Secretary indications: in the first round Marini gets only 521 votes out of the 672 required. The parties decide non to insist on Marini’s candidacy.

Second Scenario “The breaking point”

> Formula. The major political forces do not reach an agreement. The majority coalition elects its candidate (unilaterally) starting from the fourth round.

> Historical precedent. Giorgio Napolitano, elected on 10 May 2006 in the first round gaining only the centre-left coalition votes. The initial candidacy of Massimo D’Alema had not been supported by centre-right opposition.

> 2013 favourite candidate. Romano Prodi. In an attempt to bring the centre-left back together, Bersani proposes former EU Commission President right before the beginning of the fourth round. PD group approves unanimously, but voting secretly the supporters of Marini (and of the deal with PdL) take their revenge: Prodi stops at 395 votes (out of the 504 required). Prodi withdraw his candidacy and Bersani announces his resignation.

Third scenario “The outsider”

> Formula. As the bi-partisan deal failed and the majority coalition was not able to single out a strong political candidacy, compromise solutions come out. The election may occur after many rounds.

> Historical precedent. Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, elected on 25 May 1992, at the sixteenth round. His election took place in a very difficult political and institutional situation (Tangentopoli scandal, Capaci massacre) when initial candidacies couldn’t be followed anymore. As a last resort option the Parliament chose the President of the Chamber of Deputies in office.

> 2013 favourite candidate. Emma Bonino, long time politician, without a party support; Massimo D’Alema, left-wing, able to attract right-wing votes; Pietro Grasso, the institutional candidate; Stefano Rodotà, jurist with a left-wing past, supported by the Five Star Movement (5SM) of comedian Beppe Grillo.

An institutional habit unexpectedly broken

After PD split, parties give up to the political-institutional stalemate and "invoked" for Napolitano who agreed to stand for re-election and called on divided political parties to act responsibly (that is a broad coalition government – PD-PdL-Monti’s party).

Saturday 20 April 2013: Napolitano obtained, in the sixth round, 738 votes becoming the first President of the Republic being elected for a second term. Rodotà, invoked by Grillo, got 217 votes, obtaining ten votes more than the total of SEL and 5SM electors.

He was sworn-in on 22 April 2013 before the Parliament in joint session.

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