Italy could have a female president for the first time in history

The Italian parties will try again this Saturday, for the sixth consecutive day, an agreement to elect the next head of state, replacing Sergio Mattarella, and will study the possibility that the position could be occupied by a woman.

This Saturday two votes have been scheduled, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon, if there is no consensus in the first, and in both 505 votes will be needed, an absolute majority of the 1,009 “big voters” who have the right to participate, 630 deputies, 321 senators, and 58 regional delegates.

After days of absolute blockade, in the last few hours, there was a change in trend when the leader of the far-right League, Matteo Salvini, and the leader of the 5 Star Movement (M5S), Giuseppe Conte, were in favor of a woman occupy the Head of State, something that would happen for the first time in the history of the country.

Sources from the progressive Democratic Party (PD) confirmed that among the names that have been put on the table in recent days are those of the current head of the country’s secret services, Elisabetta Belloni, and that of the Minister of Justice, Marta Cartabia.

The Italian Minister of Justice, Marta Cartabia, in a file image. EFE/EPA/ANGELO CARCONI

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called it “unacceptable” on Friday that “the head of the secret services becomes President of the Republic” and advanced that his party, Italia Viva, will not vote for her.

Both the M5S and the PD have defended in recent days that it has to be a figure that has great parliamentary support, something that has not happened so far with the candidates proposed by the right, who have been rejected by the progressive coalition.

The formations will try to find an understanding to put an end to the impasse in the election for the Presidency of the Republic that the country has been experiencing since last Monday.

Italy’s center-right bloc’s insistence that one of its candidates be elected the country’s president backfired on Friday, and the fifth day of voting ended without a winner, as tensions and frustration mounted between the rival parties that make up the unity government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

General view of the Chamber of Deputies as voting continues to elect the country’s new president, in Rome, Italy, January 29, 2022. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/Pool

In each of the two rounds of voting on Friday, one political bloc or another abstained from casting their votes, highlighting the strong differences between the parties to agree on who will be Italy’s next head of state.

At the beginning of the fifth day of voting, Salvini declared that the center-right bloc would vote for the president of the Senate, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati. Alberti’s political springboard has been former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative Forza Italia party, who withdrew his candidacy before voting began this week.

But Alberti’s candidacy captured just 382 votes from voters in the Senate, Chamber of Deputies, and regional voters, well short of the simple majority of 505 needed to win.

Senate President Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati takes part in the counting of votes in Parliament to elect the country’s new president, in Rome, Italy, January 28, 2022. Filippo Monteforte/Pool via REUTERS

The sixth day of voting held on Friday night also ended without a winner. Leaders of the center-right bloc said their constituents did not participate in the vote as negotiations continued behind the scenes.

Outgoing President Mattarella, 80, has repeatedly indicated he does not want a second term despite calls from some party leaders in recent weeks.