Draghi opens his campaign to preside over the Republic

The great theater for the election of the President of the Republic of Italy was inaugurated this Monday at 3:00 p.m. with the first parliamentarians casting their vote in the Chamber of Deputies. Most did so in white, as the parties ordered, in order to buy some time in a complicated negotiation that will have to resolve the name of the new tenant of the Quirinal. But, probably, also that of the new prime minister. The election of Mario Draghi, who yesterday met with Matteo Salvini to discuss this matter, also forces us to think of someone to replace him at the Chigi Palace, the seat of government. A double changing of the guard that has never happened before in the history of the Republic and that is forcing the parties to negotiate against the clock. Yesterday there was black smoke in this great lay conclave.And nobody expects that she can be white, at the very least, before Thursday.

On Monday afternoon, 1,008 parliamentarians voted in alphabetical order - senators for life, senators, deputies and regional representatives - through the ballot boxes placed in the center of the Montecitorio Palace. They did it in shifts of 50, due to anticovid regulations. And some had to do it even from the back parking lot because they were in quarantine or positive for said virus.

The mixed group voted for former constitutional judge Paolo Maddalena, who received 36 votes. But the order, for almost all the parties, was to vote blank (672 votes, the same ones that were needed for the quorum of the first three votes). Or do it with one of those irrelevant names that do not hinder negotiations: the so-called flag candidates. Yesterday, in that spirit of irony that sustains Italy in its worst moments, the old leader of the League, Umberto Bossi, Amadeus (the host of the San Remo festival), Bruno Vespa (host of one of the programs audience of RAI) or Claudio Lotito (president of Lazio). In previous elections, names such as soccer manager Luciano Moggi (convicted of corruption), coach Carlo Ancelotti,of the porn actor Rocco Siffredi or Diego Armando Maradona.

She was not joking, however, the senator and historic leader of the Radical Party Emma Bonino, one of the first to cast her ballot.

The policy advocated Draghi's permanence as prime minister to finish the reform process in which he has embarked Italy.

"We must remember that in 2024 the new president of the European Commission will be elected," she said, referring to what could be a more appropriate position for the former ECB president.

The first symptom of Draghi's small progress was provided yesterday by the meeting held in the morning by the leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, and the Prime Minister himself. Neither of them wanted to leak the content of the meeting, but it was evident that they were already openly negotiating the possibility of the prime minister making the leap to the Quirinal. “Draghi has finally understood that he will need to negotiate openly with the parties if he wants to reach the Quirinal. This does not happen by infused science. Although it may be too late and everything leads inevitably to a Mattarella bis”, says a deputy from the Democratic Party (PD) just after casting his vote. Draghi is a single man with no party structure pushing his candidacy. And not only should you do it now,but also to present an Executive proposal that can be accepted by all those who must vote for him.

Salvini seeks Interior

Salvini, on the other hand, wants to secure a government where the League can be comfortable, talk about the name of the future prime minister and, above all, try to take over the Interior Ministry for the year that would remain before the elections.

In addition, he considers that his chances of becoming prime minister one day without scaring Brussels and other international powers - which already torpedoed his attempt to bring down the government in August 2019 - depends on having support like the one he could now win with his favor to Draghi.

The problem, in addition to the fact that Silvio Berlusconi - who withdrew last Sunday from the race for head of state - has already said that he will not support him. And it will be necessary to see what is the fit that these requests from specific ministries will have with the rest of the political forces. Especially with the PD, which will not be able to accept that in an election year the Ministry of the Interior once again becomes a xenophobic loudspeaker at the service of Salvini's anti-immigration position. The leader of the League was yesterday the bolt around which all the machinery turned.

Salvini met in the afternoon with Enrico Letta, leader of the PD. A key meeting defined by both in a joint statement as "cordial" and that has meant the opening of a dialogue that will continue on Tuesday. Somewhat later, the leader of the League also met with the former prime minister and leader of the 5 Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte. A way to take the initiative in negotiations that will necessarily require the alliance between old adversaries. "We are working to present a list of high-profile men and women in which we hope there will be no vetoes," Salvini said at the end of the day.

The right-wing bloc, formed by the conservative Forza Italia and the extreme right-wing Liga and Hermanos de Italia, has greater parliamentary representation, but they have 454 voters, so they still need the ballot papers of other parties.

In the fourth round, where half plus one of the voters will suffice, they will need to add about 50 from other parties or from the mixed group to reach the goal of 505. The bloc on the left, formed by the Democratic Party (PD ), Free and Equal and the populist 5 Star Movement (M5S), part with 405 voters.

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