To press Giorgio Napolitano to stand for re-election, as factions within the Democratic Party are now doing is to open Pandora's box. The words being used, 'Continue in office at least until the institutional and political crisis is resolved...' ignore constitutional and political reality.
There is no provision for 'extending' a president's seven-year term. A president can stand for election again but none have done so, none have been encouraged to do so, despite willingness on the part of various presidents in the past. The reason is made plain by the shennanigans of the past few days (months?, years?) Every president is elected in, shall we say idiosyncratic circumstances, capable of unexpected outcomes. Ask Romano Prodi. Giorgio Napolitano's election was by means distasteful to many and by a narrow simple majority on the fourth ballot.
Were he to stand again and fail, as Prodi failed, the delegitimisation of his time in office would be immediate. It is bad enough already; despite media attempts at beatification Napolitano is widely disliked for his politicization of the Presidency and is now recognised as a profoundly polarising head of state. A united Europe and the unity of Italy based on the state redistribution of wealth and power to the South from the North are not uncontentious goals.
Napolitano needs to get out of the kitchen.
UPDATE
After Berlusconi's coalition refused to vote at all in the elections to the Presidency of Italy both today and yesterday, and the Democratic party voted blank, at the fifth attempt to elect a head of state, Giorgio Napolitano has agreed to stand again. Unsurprisingly there is insistence on the secrecy of the ballot being waived and the Democratic Party electors will have their votes traced. Unsurprisingly but disgracefully, that is. We are watching the formalisation of dictatorship here.
Further UPDATE
The coalition of Berlusconi, Bersani, Monti, and Moroni has elected Giorgio Napolitano as Head of State in Italy. President Napolitano is 88.
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2 comments:
Thanks for all this, though it remains bloody confusing.
Did Berlusconi's people give a reason for their refusal to vote in the last two ballots?
Does one correctly sense, among all the manoeuvres, a drive to install an Administration and Presidency which will keep Italy in the Euro?
Does one also correctly sense a shifting of the public mood against staying in the Euro?
If Berlin and Brussels are involved anywhere in this, then it has to be them or us, and we need not concern ourselves with their casualties.
'Did Berlusconi's people give a reason for their refusal to vote in the last two ballots?'
Declared ballot 4 formally to be undemocratic in view of the Democrats breaking the pact to elect Marini and choosing a partisan candidate in Prodi. Ballot 5 was an expression of contempt for the candidacy of Rodota'.
Yes, an EU-approved administration will now be installed. The ECB has been holding the Italian debt fort since last year.
Tes. The Eurozone is inimical to the living standards of working people.
Berlin and Brussels have been orchestrating the Italian elections from the beginning. Both the Democratic party and the centre right stated this - Bersani was repeatedly advised by the German SDP and was their guest in Berlin for various briefings. Unsurprisingly Berlusca was not a guest of the German centre right in Berlin. His return to power is a serious worry for the Project (and not just because of his views on the German Chancellor's bottom) - a major reason why we won't be allowed near a ballot box any time soon, not for years if our new President (88) has his way.
It's always them or us, isn't it?
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