Mattarella, ex-DC veteran, now PD presidential pick

(ANSA) - Rome, January 29 - With his anti-mafia credentials, a CV that includes work as a judge on Italy's Constitutional court, and a reputation for integrity, Sergio Mattarella was touted Thursday as worthy choice to become the 12th president of Italy. Premier Matteo Renzi described the Democratic Party (PD) candidate as a "decent politician" as voting began for the new president, replacing Giorgio Napolitano, 89, who resigned earlier this month, citing age and health issues.
    "The fight against the Mafia, (his) resignation for an ideal, colleges for MPs, the abolition of military conscription.
    (Mattarella is) a decent politician," tweeted Renzi.
    Palermo-born Mattarella, 73, has a long history in politics, which was something of a family business.
    His father Bernardo Mattarella served as a Christian Democrat (DC) cabinet minister several times in the 1950s and 1960s and in 1980, his brother Piersanti Mattarella was assassinated by the Mafia while serving as regional governor of Sicily.
    Sergio Mattarella was first elected to the Lower House in 1983 as a left-leaning member of the DC, which collapsed in the wake of the Bribesville corruption scandal in the early 1990s.
    He later joined the precursor to today's PD.
    Mattarella served as minister of parliamentary affairs and later, under premier Giulio Andreotti, Mattarella served as minister of education - a post he resigned in 1990 over parliament's passage of the Mammì's Act, which liberalized the media in Italy.
    Critics have said the law gave a significant advantage to the business interests of former premier Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's wealthiest man thanks to his media empire.
    On Thursday, Berlusconi - head of the center-right Forza Italia (FI) party - expressed his opposition to Mattarella's candidacy which led some commentators to suggest he still held a grudge 25 years later.
    In contrast, Renzi used that incident as a shining example of Mattarella's integrity.
    The resignation did not mean Mattarella was finished with politics, even as he worked from 1992 to 1994 as director of Il Popolo newspaper.
    During that time, he drafted 1993 legislation enacting a new electoral system - the Mattarellum - replaced a dozen years later by Berlusconi with what has become known as the "pigsty" law and which is in turn being reformed by Renzi working with Berlusconi.
    After the 1996 general elections, Mattarella become head of the Italian Popular Party parliamentarian committee and later, vice-premier under Massimo D'Alema. Mattarella went on to become defense minister, a post in which he oversaw significant changes to the military system in Italy, including an end to conscription.
    Media commentators note that Mattarella is unusually restrained for a politician, with no official profile on social network sites such as Twitter, and few media appearances.
    An informal count suggests that in the past decade, he has spoken publicly and drawn headlines just 29 times.
    But that may have been good training for his election in 2011 by the Italian parliament as a judge on the Constitutional Court.
    That is crucial experience, Renzi said Thursday as his PD lawmakers and regional representatives taking part in the election unanimously backed Mattarella.
    "(He) is a Constitutional judge, and we are changing the Constitution," Renzi said, referring to his revamp of Italy's slow, costly political machinery.
    "Mattarella is a defender of the Charter, which...means being able to defend it while promoting the transition process in full compliance with the rules". Nichi Vendola said Thursday that his small Left, Ecology and Freedom (SEL) party was also ready to vote for Mattarella from the fourth ballot.
    "We consider this proposal positive because he is a clear figure in moral and political terms," said Vendola, who is also Puglia governor.