Preview of the Italian presidential election

Who will be the next tenant of the Quirinale presidential palace is the question the Italian parliament will have to answer from next Monday in what is expected to be a thrilling vote on the successor of Sergio Mattarella.

One-thousand-and-voters – senators, deputies and regional representatives – will have find a man or a woman capable of welding together different political colours as none of the political parties alone has the majority to elect the new president.

According to the Italian constitution, the president of republic is elected with a secret vote and the first three ballots will require a two thirds majority.

From the fourth ballot onwards a simple majority of 505 votes will be enough.

The new president will have the key role of an important and neutral referee among the various parties and constitutional powers as Italy is struggling to get out from the COVID-19 pandemic and is doing important reforms and massive investments to boost a sustainable and stable economic growth.

According to the political writer of Italian daily newspaper Domani, Daniela Preziosi, a serious contender for the job is Mario Draghi, current premier and former president of the European Central Bank.

But Draghi seems to be the only person capable of keeping all the parties of the current government coalition together and his move to the Quirinale could bring with it early elections.

"If (an elected) President (Mario) Draghi moves from Chigi Palace (government office), behind me, to the Quirinale (presidential palace) he would leave empty the prime minister seat and therefore parliament members are afraid that the term would come to an early end," said Preziosi.

"Without him (Draghi), as the majority coalition is very wide and varied from left to right, there would be the need for somebody influential like him, capable of keeping all those political forces together (to step in). Well this person does not exist."

Despite the desperate research for an irreproachable and unifying figure, the name of the controversial former prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, 85, has been echoing in the hallways of the Italian parliament as a potential candidate.

Berlusconi who jumped into politics three decades ago, forming his center-right party, Forza Italia, served three times as premier, but was made ineligible for public office after being convicted of tax fraud in 2012.

"Berlusconi is playing an amazing game if he is clear-headed", said Peziosi, "which means that in the next few hours he will withdraw from this race, will name a figure that will be unifying for the whole government coalition and will take the credit for it, for this victory, for this respected decision."

"If he is not lucid and he really thinks he can try (to be elected president) and he believes he can go to the Quirinale (presidential palace), without understanding that he can't make it, in that case it would be an inglorious end, a dishonourable fall for him."

Many candidates' names are circulating among the parties, but a Mattarella encore could also be one of the options on the table.

However, the incumbent president is not happy about re-election becoming an habit, following Giorgio Napolitano's election for a second term in 2013 in the middle of a political stalemate and a severe economic crisis.

The Italian president term of office lasts for seven years.

In the hodgepodge of names several women have also been listed as potential candidates.

Italy has never had either a woman president or prime minister.

The most favoured woman for the president seems to be Marta Cartabia, 58, the current Minister of Justice and former president of the constitutional court.

Preziosi is not optimistic about the chances of having the first woman president elected next week.

"So far it seems to be just a rhetorical game", said Preziosi, "I think that a woman president could only be elected if all the men fail."

The first ballot will start at 14:00 GMT on Monday at the chamber of deputies in Rome.