On 15 June 1978, on a political scene already upset by the assassination of Aldo Moro at the hands of the BR, the news of the resignation of Giovanni Leone fell, forced to leave the Quirinale prematurely following the Lockheed scandal.
Six months ahead of the natural deadline, Parliament finds itself having to solve the successor puzzle.
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In '78 the majority expanded to the PCI, which supports the government of Andreotti's broad agreements, born on the day of the Moro kidnapping. The PSI is led by Craxi, who dissociated himself from the line of firmness during the kidnapping of the DC president and asked for negotiations to be started with the Red Brigades. The DC is in the hands of Benigno Zaccagnini, proponent of the historic compromise, while the charismatic Enrico Berlinguer reigns in Botteghe Oscure, but he must keep the discontent of militants hostile to collaboration with the DC at bay.
For the Quirinale the rule of alternation has now become established: seven years a layman, in the following seven years a Catholic. After the Christian Democrat Leone, it is therefore up to a layman. The secretary of the Pri Ugo La Malfa does not hide his aims, but Craxi wants a socialist to arrive at the Quirinale. On 29 June, the day of the first vote, Montecitorio is guarded by carabinieri armed with machine guns, ready to face any terrorist blitz. The first ballots go away with the parties that vote their flag candidates: the DC Guido Gonella, the PCI Giorgio Amendola. The following days see the DC take refuge in abstention while waiting for a solid candidacy to emerge. Craxi is not betting on Sandro Pertini: the former President of the Chamber, now 81, is not aligned. Too independent.The socialists are betting on two other authoritative figures, whom Craxi, rightly or wrongly, considers more reliable: the former minister Antonio Giolitti and the jurist Giuliano Vassalli.
and starts working for Giolitti again.
Pertini actually understood that by playing his cards right he can really do it.
In the end, Craxi too must make a virtue of necessity: having acknowledged that the candidacies of Giolitti and Vassalli do not take off (the latter obtains 429 votes with over 100 blank ballots in the tenth vote), he must agree to get Pertini back on track, who in the meantime it also had the consent of the DC.
It is Zaccagnini who communicates the news to the person concerned.
Pertini receives her while he is preparing to leave for Nice where his wife Carla Voltolina awaits him for the summer holidays.
And Saturday, July 8, and on the sixteenth ballot comes the election with a large majority: 833 votes out of 995, practically all parties except the far right.
