Italian President Sergio Mattarella was again elected for second term, during a joint session of Parliament and eighth round of voting.

Key Points

• Mattarella was re-elected with a broad majority. He got 759 votes in favour out of 983 lawmakers and regional representatives.
• His candidacy emerged prominently at the end of a tense week, in which the center-left and the center-right political blocs failed to agree on different common candidature.
• Thus, seven rounds of voting were held. All the rounds delivered inconclusive results and exposed deep fractures within both coalitions.

Background

The re-election of President in Italy is rare. Till date, only Giorgio Napolitano, predecessor of Mattarella, had served a second term. He served only for less than two years.

2022 Italian presidential election

The 2022 Italian presidential election was concluded between January 24 to January 29, 2022 in Rome. The president was elected by a joint session of Italian Parliament and regional representatives. Election process was extended over multiple days. The process culminated the incumbent president Sergio Mattarella for a second term. He received 759 votes on the eighth ballot, making it the second most votes ever received by a Presidential candidate, after Sandro Pertini in 1978.

Second term of Sergio Mattarella

Sergio Mattarella had ruled out a second term, initially. He agreed to serve a second term on January 29, following the request of most party leaders and prime minister of Italy (Mario Draghi). He had already received significant and growing support previously, in several rounds of voting. He received 125 votes on the third ballot, 166 votes on the fourth, 336 votes on the sixth while 387 votes on the seventh ballot. It was the highest number of ballots since 1992, among Italian presidential elections. In 1992, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro was elected on the 16th ballot.

By: Brijesh Kumar