Life Senator Giorgio Napolitano on Tuesday looked set to become Italy's 11th postwar president after incoming premier Romano Prodi said his coalition would vote unanimously for the former Communist in an upcoming decisive round of voting.
Prodi said ahead of the Wednesday morning ballot that "we have all decided to vote for Napolitano. It was a swift and unanimous decision".
Asked if he thought tomorrow's vote, the fourth, would be successful, the former European Commission chief replied "yes, I think so".
Deputies, senators and representatives of Italy's 20 regions - in all 1,010 voters - began voting on Monday for a new president to replace Carlo Azeglio Ciampi whose seven-year mandate expires on May 18. The three rounds that have been held so far have all failed to yield a result but the voting rules ease tomorrow when a simple majority as opposed to a two-thirds majority is
required to decide the winner.
Outgoing premier Silvio Berlusconi, who narrowly lost last month's general election to Prodi, has refused his backing for Napolitano arguing that the 80-year-old life senator's past as a member of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) makes him an unacceptable candidate.
Berlusconi raised the same objection to the centre left's first candidate, former premier and chairman of the Democratic Left party Massimo D'Alema. The Democratic Left, of which Napolitano is also a member, is the largest party in Prodi's coalition and the main heir to the PCI.
Berlusconi said on Tuesday that there were "no margins for negotiation" on Napolitano's candidature adding that his four-way coalition would refuse to accept any member of the Democratic Left.
His coalition subsequently cast mainly blank votes in Tuesday's two rounds of voting - as did the centre left which explained that it was waiting for a "signal" from the centre right on the possibility of opening negotiations. When straight majority voting kicks in on Wednesday, the centre left has enough votes to elect Napolitano on its own.
But even Berlusconi supporters who took a more moderate line on the idea of Napolitano said they could not vote for him now because of the centre left's "methods". The right-wing National Alliance, Berlusconi's biggest ally, said that "the centre left wants our support when it has put forward just one candidate, without any real attempt to negotiate. This shows that it wants us to back their choice but not choose together."
Another ally, the centrist, Catholic UDC, said it had no intention of splitting the House of Liberties but stressed that it was "an error" not to agree on Napolitano. Concerns over preserving coalition unity emerged after another party, the populist Northern League, said it would abandon the coalition if it voted for the centre-left's candidate.
On Sunday, Berlusconi's coalition presented a compromise list of four candidates which were rejected by the centre left in favour of Napolitano. They were: ex-Socialist premier Giuliano Amato, ex-premier Lamberto Dini, newly elected Senate Speaker Franco Marini and former European anti-trust commissioner Mario Monti.
Berlusconi himself has come out in favour of Gianni Letta, his outgoing cabinet undersecretary and former deputy chairman of his family holding company Fininvest. Italy's head of state, who is meant to be above the party fray and a representative of national unity, is elected in a joint session by the 630 members of the House, the 322 members of the Senate plus 58 regional delegates.
The 1,010 'grand electors', as they are known, gather in the House for the secret voting. In order for a winner to emerge, a two-thirds majority of 674 votes is required for the first three ballots and a simple majority of 506 votes after that.
In theory, Prodi's incoming government can count on 541 votes compared to 460 for the opposition. The rules for the election of presidents are designed to initially encourage MPs to reach an accord on a candidate who has broad consensus.
Democratic Left chief Piero Fassino said on Tuesday that "we hope the centre right can overcome its internal divisions and decide that it's reasonable to combine its votes with those of the centre left and elect Napolitano".
Meanwhile, Napolitano, a former interior minister and House speaker, thanked members of the centre right for their praise of his "institutional stature".
Napolitano said his appointment would not divide the country, stressing that "the House of Liberties has criticised the method" but had not specifically criticised him.
