Where does the re-election of Matarella leave Italy?

By Costas Raptis

The markets rewarded Italy for the re-election of Sergio Matarella to the presidency of the Republic with a reduction of the yield of the ten-year Italian bond by 5 basis points to 1.3% and the spread with the corresponding German securities by 6.5 basis points. But the markets are looking short-term – Italy’s medium-long-term bet has not been judged.

The 80-year-old incumbent president, who had already rented a private residence in Rome to leave the Royal Palace, succumbed to pressure from parties and governors and was “made available to Italy” for another seven-year term, leading to his eighth term. series of voting for the election of president 759 votes out of a total of 1,005 voters.

It is recalled that the electorate includes both members of both houses of parliament and local government, and the successive secret ballots are … a shining field of glory for all kinds of “guerrillas”, but sometimes also friends of the hawala who give preference to artistic stars and so The re-election of a president for a second term is unusual based on Italian traditions and suggests deep distress: It is no coincidence that it happened for the first time with Matarella’s predecessor, Giorgio Napolitano.

In this case, Matarella was the candidate who consistently garnered the most votes in the chaos of the first ballots, although he himself was clear that he was not interested in remaining in Kyrenalio. In the end, however, it proved to be the only option on which the political system could balance.

In the past, there has been a lot of talk of “promoting” Prime Minister Mario Draghi to the presidency, from where, based on his constitutional supremacy, he would oversee the continuation of the reformist path launched by his technocratic government. of the ruling parties to imagine a viable government tomorrow so that early elections do not have to be held, but this is precisely a statement of the fragmented Italian political system and a message of pessimism about its ability to lead reforms, primarily institutional, the post-pandemic recovery.

In an intermediate stage, there was a lot of talk about the election for the first time of a woman in the highest office, with the main candidate being the head of the secret services, Elizabeth Belloni. But former Prime Minister and leader of the small center-left Italia Viva party, Matteo Renzi, fought the candidacy as “anti-institutional”, nominating former Parliament Speaker Pierfentinando Cassini, whose small Liberal party ousted Civica Popola. underground channels of communication connecting Renzi with Silvio Berlusconi, probably the game that was played had more beneficiaries.

The undefeated “Cavaliere” was indeed the decisive factor in the re-election of Matarella, whom he promoted from an early age, apparently reluctant, once his own ambitions for the presidency were thwarted, to submit to a powerful president like N’s. The story is that the logic of “anyone but Berlusconi”, who is so popular on the center left, facilitated the former prime minister’s plans, leading to the Matarella compromise.

In the area of ​​the populist (extreme) right, the leader of the Fratelli d ‘Italia, Georgia Meloni, is clearly winning, who does not support the Draghi government and did not vote for Matarella, insisting on a choice with a clearly right-wing profile. It thus emerges as a unique opposition pole and strengthens its lead in the intra-parliamentary rivalry with Matteo Salvini’s Lega, who in various ways tried to become the kingmaker of the presidential election, without success. Now, he is demanding the reshuffle of the government by entering the cabinet of the leaders of the parties that support it (like himself), so that it acquires more political characteristics.

Finally, the eight-vote thriller leaves the ruling coalition with its balances upset, with the ruling parties failing to find a viable solution and confessing their fears in the face of the ballot box. Parliamentary elections are normally scheduled for 2023.