Spotlight: Constitutional judge Sergio Mattarella elected as new Italian president

Italian parliament elected 73-year-old constitutional judge Sergio Mattarella as new president on Saturday.

He will succeed Giorgio Napolitano, who resigned early in mid-January.

Mattarella, who had been promoted by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's center-left Democratic Party (PD), received 665 votes out of an assembly of 1,009 lawmakers and regional representatives.

A simple majority of 505 votes was needed in Saturday's vote, and a long applause broke out in the Lower House when his name surpassed that threshold.

Three inconclusive rounds of balloting requiring a two-thirds majority had been held on Thursday and Friday.

Mattarella will be sworn in before the parliament on Tuesday morning. Known for being a quiet and restrained political figure, he gave only a short declaration after the vote.

"My first thought goes out to the hopes and difficulties of my fellow citizens, this will suffice," he said from his office at the Constitutional Court.

Former head of State Napolitano was among the first to congratulate the new president, saying that "he will be a sound reference point for reforms." Former Italian prime minister Mario Monti among others also praised him for his integrity and fairness.

"As president, he will be always above the parties and never over the top," Monti said.

The first act of Mattarella after the vote was to visit the site of the Ardeatine massacre near Rome, where Nazi German troops killed 335 Italians for reprisal in 1944.

Overall, Mattarella's election was seen as a clear political victory for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who had promoted him as sole candidate and managed to keep his often-unruly PD party united behind him.

Renzi was also able to overcome mounting tensions within the governing coalition, and especially from junior partner New Centre Right party led by Interior minister Angelino Alfano.

"Have a good work, president Mattarella. Long live Italy," Renzi wrote on social media after the election.

"We have not elected one of our supporters, but an arbitrator," Renzi declared later to Rai State television.

Another candidate proposed by anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), senior magistrate Ferdinando Imposimato, also received 127 votes on Saturday.

On the other hand, most lawmakers belonging to Silvio Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia (FI) party cast blank ballots.

Both opposition parties had announced they would not back Mattarella in protest over Renzi's decision to promote him without any prior consultation with them.

Berlusconi said he felt "betrayed" by the prime minister. He accused Renzi of breaking a pact over institutional reforms they had struck in early 2014, saying it also contained the promise of a concerted decision on the candidate.

The PD leadership denied the presidential election was included in that pact.

Whether this friction would now result in a major breach on institutional reforms between ruling coalition and major center-right opposition force is not yet clear. Currently, an electoral draft law and a broad constitutional reform are being discussed in parliament.

As new head of State, Mattarella may have a major influence in solving possible deadlocks on the reform process.

The president is traditionally a ceremonial and balancing figure in Italy's politics, but he can become a key player in times of broad instability, which are not rare in the country.

He can in fact use his impartial status to smooth major political tensions and help selecting the prime minister and forming cabinets. Endit