Presidential election to start January 24 announces Fico

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 4 - Lower House Speaker Roberto Fico on Tuesday summoned lawmakers from both chambers of parliament and representatives of Italy's regions to take part in a joint session to start the election of the new president on January 24 at 15:00.
    President Sergio Mattarerlla's seven-year term ends early next month.
    Sources have said that former centre-right premier Silvio Berlusconi is convinced he has enough support to become the next head of State even though the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and the 5-Star Movement (M5S) have said they will not vote for the media billionaire and Forza Italia (FI) leader.
    League leader Matteo Salvini has criticised PD head Enrico Letta for "imposing vetoes" on possible presidential candidates and "wasting time".
    An assembly of M5S Senators voted for Mattarella to be re-elected for a second time.
    The only Italian president to have previously been re-elected was Giorgio Napolitano, who reluctantly agreed to stay on as head of State after the lawmakers and regional representatives failed to agree on a successor in 2013.
    Napolitano, resigned in 2015 and Mattarella was elected president.
    Under the Constitution, the head of State acts as a sort of referee of Italian politics and the role is especially important at times of political crisis.
    This was seen, for example, in how Mattarella paved the way for Premier Mario Draghi's government of national unity early in 2021 after ex-premier Giuseppe Conte's executive lost its majority in parliament. (ANSA).