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Roundup: Italy elects constitutional judge Sergio Mattarella as new president

Xinhua, January 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

A constitutional judge was elected as Italy's new head of state on Saturday, in the fourth round of balloting held by Italian parliament in joint session.

Sergio Mattarella, 73, received 665 votes out of an assembly of 1,009 lawmakers and regional representatives, Lower House speaker Laura Boldrini said.

The assembly welcomed this announcement with a long round of applause.

The Sicilian judge is a member of Italy's Constitutional Court since 2011, and had entered politics as Christian Democrat in the 1980s after his elder brother was killed by the Sicilian mafia. He also served as minister in several cabinets.

"My first thought goes to the hopes and difficulties of my fellow citizens," Mattarella said in a short official declaration after the vote.

Mattarella's candidacy was promoted by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's center-left Democratic party (PD). It received support from all minor centrist and leftist forces in parliament and from the New Center-Right party, which is a junior partner in the cabinet.

Mattarella's election was seen as a political victory for Renzi, who succeeded in keeping his party united and managed to settle mounting tensions within coalition partners.

The constitutional judge received 160 votes more than the simple majority of 505 needed on Saturday. The three opening rounds of balloting held on Thursday and Friday had been inconclusive, since Italian constitution required a two-thirds majority.

Senior magistrate Ferdinando Imposimato, proposed by anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), received 127 votes.

Some 105 blank ballots were also cast in the secret voting, widely believed to come from most lawmakers belonging to Silvio Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia (FI) party.

Mattarella's candidacy was in fact not backed by Berlusconi's party or by M5S, which are main opposition forces in parliament.

Both parties said they were angered by Renzi's decision to promote the constitutional judge as a single candidate without any prior consultation with them.

Mattarella will be likely sworn in early next week, serving as the 12th president of the Italian republic. He will succeed 89-year-old Giorgio Napolitano, who resigned on Jan. 14. Endit