A member of parliament casts a vote to elect Italy's new president, on January 27, 2022, at the Chamber of Deputies in Rome, Italy. ROME, Jan 28 Reuters - Italy's parliament started a fifth attempt to elect a new president on Friday, with the centre-right parties saying they will try to push through Senate speaker Elisabetta Casellati for the powerful role.
After days of fruitless talk about the need to elect a consensus candidate that can draw broad cross-party support, that would be a direct snub to the centre-left.
If Casellati is elected, it could cause the collapse of the multi-party government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
Draghi, who is currently a contender for the top of state position, has indicated that he may be unwilling to carry on as the premier if his ruling coalition splits over the presidential election. The centre-left Democratic Party has said it will pull out of the government if it is not included in the choice of president.
Casellati is from Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, one of three groups that make up a conservative alliance along with the rightist League and Brothers of Italy.
The Italian presidency has a seven-year mandate and has a lot of power to deal with political crises that regularly batter the country, including appointing prime ministers and dissolving parliament.
It remains to be seen whether the right's approach will be successful, as it doesn't have the votes to elect the president on its own and must rely on unaffiliated lawmakers or centre-left defectors in the secret ballot.
Some of these votes come from the 5 Star Movement, which is the largest group in parliament but is internally divided and hard for the leader, former premier Giuseppe Conte, to control.
Draghi's prospects for the position of president have faded this week, with many lawmakers reluctant to back him, partly because they fear a change to the government could trigger an early election.
Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Brothers of Italy, said she was pleased that it would finally try to get its candidate elected instead of having to cast blank ballots or abstain.
She said that the centre-right has to show it is compact, amid speculation that some lawmakers from the bloc will defy their leaders' instructions.
The right could not be trusted, according to Enrico Letta, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party.
They have taken us for a ride for the last three days, he told reporters ahead of a centre-left meeting in parliament.
Neither the centre-right nor centre-left groups put forward any names for Thursday's vote - the fourth this week after various parties had shot down a raft of possible contenders, opening the way for intense behind-the-scenes haggling.
If the centre-right move fails on Friday, it may open the way to a second mandate for Sergio Mattarella, even though the outgoing president, who is 80, has so far ruled out this out.
Two government members told Reuters on Thursday that the re-election of Mattarella was a strong possibility.
With tempers fraying after four inconclusive days, party representatives decided on Friday that there will be two rounds of voting per day, instead of one, until a president is elected.
In France or in the United States, where presidents get elected in a popular vote, in Italy some 1,009 parliamentarians and regional representatives pick the head of state in a secret ballot, which party leaders struggle to control.
The candidate must win 505 votes, or an absolute majority.
Mattarella received more than any other candidate for the second day running despite the main party chiefs instructing their lawmakers to abstain or cast blank ballots in Thursday's ballot, but Mattarella got 166 votes, more than anyone else for the second day running, though well below the required 505.
Aside from Draghi, Mattarella and Casellati, numerous other candidates are cited for the job, but are often shot down by one side or the other in a matter of hours.
Some of these include Elisabetta Belloni, a career diplomat who is head of the secret services, and Sabino Cassese, an 86-year-old former constitutional court judge.
Other possible candidates in the media include former lower house speaker Pier Ferdinando Casini, former prime minister Giuliano Amato and Justice Minister Marta Cartabia, who previously chaired the constitutional court.