In Montecitorio alone on December 30, about thirty deputies were blocked at home, infected with Covid or in quarantine, almost 5%.
This figure is enough to understand how the pandemic is a factor of uncertainty that is anything but secondary over the race to the Colle, which will officially be kicked off by the Speaker of the House, Roberto Fico, announcing the first call of Parliament in joint session on Tuesday.
At the moment, the first vote is assumed for January 24, and in these three weeks the epidemiological curve will be observed with great attention not only by the parties, grappling with the delicate negotiation to choose the new President of the Republic, but also by the technical committee scientific committee of Montecitorio. The technicians already have a first meeting on the agenda on Monday, to begin evaluating all the solutions to organize the thirteenth election of the head of state, in decidedly extraordinary conditions compared to the previous ones. Faced with the risks of contagion, the priority is to avoid gatherings in the management of large voters, which at the moment (except for contagions and quarantines) are 1,007, and will become 1.008 when the elected deputy will be proclaimed on January 16 in the race to the supplementary of the Rome 1 college for the seat vacated by the new mayor of the capital, Roberto Gualtieri. On the other hand, there will hardly be time for the appointment of the senator destined to take the place of Adriano Cario's Palazzo Madama, who fell for fraud.
In all likelihood we will proceed with one vote per day rather than two or even three as has happened in the past. The first will be fixed by Fico, the date of the other eventual ones will be chosen by the group leaders' meeting. The Montecitorio technicians could organize the voting in time slots, with times extended by the cleaning operations of the Chamber, and it is not entirely excluded that alternative solutions to the historical bieres, i.e. the voting booths, are considered to reconcile the needs of secrecy and hygiene.
However, a substantial number of absences for Covid would not change the quorum, which is 672 votes in the first three ballots and 505 starting from the fourth.
Certainly, however, it could complicate and make uncertain the strategies of the parties, which at the moment are still moving in a far from compact manner.
Also for this reason, for weeks among parliamentarians there has been the idea that, in the face of a new surge in infections, a united front could be formed to ask Sergio Mattarella for availability for a new mandate.
The state of the epidemiological curve at 10 January, according to parliamentary sources, would be a point of reference for any reasoning of this type.
