Italian presidential election, 2006

On May 2, 2006, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy Fausto Bertinotti, in agreement with Senate Speaker Franco Marini, convened the two houses of the Italian Parliament, integrated with a number of Grand Electors appointed by the twenty Italian regions, in a common session on May 8 in order to commence voting for the election of the new President of the Italian Republic.

According to the Italian Constitution, the election must be held in the form of secret ballot, with the Senators, the Deputies and 58 regional representatives allowed to cast their votes. When the 2006 election was held, the Senate counted 322 members and the Chamber of Deputies counted 629 members; the electors were in total 1009. The election is held in the "Palazzo Montecitorio", home of the Chamber of Deputies, with the capacity of the building being expanded for the purpose. The first three ballots require a two-thirds majority of the voters in order to elect a President, in this election equivalent to 673 votes. Starting from the fourth ballot, an absolute majority is required for candidates to be elected (in this election, 505 votes). The election is conducted by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, who has the authority to proceed to the public counting of the votes. The presidential mandate lasts seven years.

Outgoing President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, 85, was asked to run for another mandate by the centre-right House of Freedoms, with the strong support of the centre-left Union. However, Ciampi declined to run again, noting that "none of the past nine presidents of the Republic has been re-elected. I think this has become a meaningful rule. It is better not to infringe it." Ciampi was elected in 1999 at the first ballot, becoming only the second president ever to win on the first ballot, after Francesco Cossiga.

On May 10, Giorgio Napolitano, the candidate endorsed by the Union, was elected on the fourth ballot with 543 votes. His term officially started with a swearing-in ceremony held on May 15.

Ballots

First ballot (May 8)

The Union initially proposed lifetime Senator Giorgio Napolitano as its official candidate, in an attempt to reach an agreement with the House of Freedoms, whose votes would have been necessary to have a successful election at the first ballot; however, the centre-right opposition declared it did not intend to vote for Napolitano, and instead announced its own members would vote for Gianni Letta. After this announcement, the Union declared that its members would cast a blank vote in the first ballot, in order not to waste Napolitano's candidacy, with the exception of the Rose in the Fist, which would vote for either Adriano Sofri or Emma Bonino. Inside the centre-right, the Christian Democracy for the Autonomies and the Socialist Party New PSI voted for journalist Giuliano Ferrara.

The voting operations started at 16:00 CEST; as no candidate obtained the 673 votes requested to win the election, a new ballot was held in the morning of May 9.

Results

Fourth ballot (May 10)

The fourth ballot is the first one that requires only a simple majority for a successful election, that is, 505 votes; thus, the Union could elect its own candidate without needing to find agreement with the House of Freedoms.

The Union declared its members would vote for Giorgio Napolitano in this ballot. Instead, the House of Freedoms declared its own members would cast a blank vote; however, the decision was not taken unanimously, as the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats clearly showed its approval of Napolitano's candidacy. Former secretary of the party Marco Follini declared he would vote for Napolitano.

The voting operations, started at 9:30 CEST, resulted in the election of Giorgio Napolitano as President of the Italian Republic.

Results

Proposed candidates

House of Freedoms

*Gianni Letta, former presidential undersecretary under the three governments of Silvio Berlusconi;

The Union

*Giuliano Amato, former Prime Minister of Italy (two times), now Minister of the Interior with the Olive Tree;
*Massimo D'Alema, former Prime Minister of Italy, now President and prominent member of the Democrats of the Left. He received support from most of the coalition, including his party, the Daisy-Democracy is Freedom, the Party of Italian Communists and others, but was also criticized by several parts of the opposition;
*Anna Finocchiaro, former Minister for Gender Equality, member of the Democrats of the Left and leader of the Olive Tree in the Senate;
*Franco Marini, incumbent Speaker of the Italian Senate, member of the Daisy-Democracy is Freedom party. On May 4, he announced he did not intend to run for the office.
*Giorgio Napolitano, lifetime Senator, now member of the Democrats of the Left, officially endorsed by the Union on May 7;
*Franca Rame, theater actress, wife of Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo, Senator of the Italy of Values, proposed by party leader Antonio Di Pietro.

Criticisms and Reactions

There have been some criticisms voiced from all the political spectrum about the Presidential elections, most of it coming from the minority right-wing coalition. Since the speakers of both houses of parliament were chosen by the winning coalition, the House of Freedoms demanded an impartial candidate for the role of President. The Union stressed the fact that the Italian Constitution demands that the President be a defender of the Constitution, hinting that such a quality was scarce among the opposition members.

Most of the criticism focused on how the President should have been selected. Surprisingly, given the enormous heat and animosity shown in the preceding general elections, the two coalition leaders organized a meeting to try to come up with a candidate that was acceptable to both. The attempts failed quickly, with the Union arguing that the House of Freedom was not interested in any candidate, and the House of Freedom arguing that the Union was not proposing any that were acceptable.

Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of the opposition, was the most vocal opponent of any candidate that came from the former Italian Communist Party, staying true to his anti-communist stance taken in the elections. His allies, especially the UDC, openly disagreed with his intransigence but vowed to stick with their ally decision. Yet when Napolitano was elected, Silvio Berlusconi gave an interview to one of his political magazines Panorama saying that the UDC betrayed him by letting 60 of his electors cast a blank vote at the first ballot, instead of supporting the official candidate Gianni Letta. When the UDC argued that this could have meant the end of the Coalition, Silvio Berlusconi quickly changed his stance by saying, as he did many other times before, that he was "misunderstood" and that he never gave that journalist an interview.

The candidacy of Massimo D'Alema was supported by his party, the Democrats of the Left, and by others parties of the coalition, such as the Party of Italian Communists, the Communist Refoundation Party and the Daisy-Democracy is Freedom, but adversed by others, such as the Rose in the Fist, arguing that his candidacy was driven by a particracy's mentality. Also, part of the left-wing coalition considered D'Alema far too willing to conduct backroom deals with the opposition. Some moderate journalists liked D'Alema because his presidency would have given Romano Prodi a stabler government, since the biggest party of the Union had not been rewarded with any istitutional position.

For the opposition coalition, while Silvio Berlusconi was vehemently opposed to D'Alema presidency, some of his aides, such as Marcello Dell'Utri, and some aligned newspapers, such as Il Foglio, campaigned for D'Alema. However, the official stance of the centre-right was that D'Alema, being an important left-wing politician and having participated in the electoral campaign, was inadequate for the role of President, a role that it is supposed to be "super partes".

However, when the Union proposed Giorgio Napolitano, a senator for life that in recent years had not had a prominent role in politics, the House of Freedom objected that the Union should have presented a list of names. In the end, the House of Freedom chose to cast a blank vote. Some right-wing newspapers protested the communist background of the new President.

ources

*it icon [http://www.camera.it/%5Fpresidenti/scrutinio_.asp Official results (from the Italian Parliament website)]