After days of deadlock, Italy speeds up presidential vote

Published January 29, 2022 · Updated September 27, 2022

Italian Parliament in session.

BSS :
Italian political leaders agreed on Friday to paralyse Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government.
Four rounds of voting in parliament since Monday have failed to produce anything close to a winner, with most lawmakers casting blank ballots or abstaining due to a lack of agreement between the parties.
The fifth round will go ahead as planned from 11:00am (1000 GMT), with another added at 5:00pm, according to Italian news agencies.
It followed calls to step up the pace from Enrico Letta of the centre-left Democratic Party and Matteo Salvini of the populist, anti-immigration League
party. Due to coronavirus restrictions, parliament had scheduled only one round of voting per day until now.
Salvini’s right-wing bloc on Friday morning finally put forward a candidate, Senate president Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati.
But they do not have a majority in parliament and many on the left are strongly opposed to Casellati, a loyal follower of former premier Silvio Berlusconi, who is known for her opposition to abortion and same-sex unions.