Italian president Napolitano will stand again for election
Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano gives a press conference on March 30, 2013 at the Quirinale, the Italian presidential palace in Rome. Italy’s president asks ‘two groups’ to break government impasse. The latest round of talks between political leaders ended with no solution in sight yesterday after the three main political forces proposed different visions for a future government.
Current Italian president Giorgio Napolitano has announced that he'll run for a second term, after the nation's top political parties appealed to him to help end the crippling deadlock.
The 87-year-old put forth his candidacy after a fifth round of voting by the Italian parliament failed to elect a replacement, reports the BBC, a worrisome political deadlock that's doing little to abate investor fears about the effects of the Eurozone crisis here.
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"I consider it necessary to offer my availability," said Napolitano, who's likely to win an upcoming 6th round of voting, wrote AFP.
"I must assume my responsibilities before the nation and I ask for a corresponding assumption of collective responsibility," he added, notes AFP, a not-so-veiled dig at Italy's long squabbling political parties.
Most of the ballots for the president's slot turned in in the fifth round of elections were blank, wrote Al Jazeera, a political stalling tactic.
Even if elected to another seven year term, it's believed likely that the elderly Napolitano would resign within a year if his re-election helps to ease the political deadlock — and he would again have the power to dissolve Parliament.
Outside observers should remember that although the Italian president doesn't have a political role, the person in the position can perform essential functions such as calling new elections, dissolving Parliament, and submitting a candidate to create a new government, per the Associated Press.