Italian parties agree to back Marini for president
Former speaker of the senate and trade union leader Franco Marini likely to be elected by lawmakers, heralding end to political impasse
The Italian parliament's attempt to elect a new president ended in disarray yesterday.
Two rounds of voting failed to herald the end of a two-month impasse over a new government and the threat of fresh political divisions. A third vote is set to take place today.
In a last-minute agreement on Wednesday, Italy's two main political blocs had agreed to back Franco Marini, a pipe-smoking 80-year-old seen as having formidable political skills.
But the deal was seen as highly controversial by many across the political spectrum, with rebel voters preferring Stefano Rodota, a widely respected 79-year-old human rights advocate.
None of the candidates managed to win the necessary two-thirds support in the first round of voting, after leftist leader Pier Luigi Bersani's bid to clinch a deal with his rival Silvio Berlusconi over Marini infuriated many within the centre-left bloc.
He was slammed as having neither public support nor international standing and experts said it was unclear whether he could win critics over.