Italian party chiefs struggle to nail deal on next president

Leaders across Italy's political spectrum have been struggling to nail down an agreement on who should be the country's next president

ROME -- Leaders across Italy’s political spectrum, under pressure to nail down an agreement on who should be the country’s next president, huddled again Tuesday without immediate success, so the second day of voting by lawmakers in Parliament appeared as doomed as the first.

Through Wednesday, a two-thirds majority is needed to elect a new head of state, a figure tasked with representing national unity. Starting with the fourth round of voting on Thursday, only a simple majority of 505 votes is necessary.

But even that reduced margin could prove elusive. Whether enough support can be found to elect Premier Mario Draghi as president is one of the possibilities being haggled over by party leaders. In the past, some Italian presidential elections needed more than a dozen rounds.

Draghi is heading an Italian pandemic unity government that includes left-wing, right-wing, centrist and populist forces. The former European Central Bank chief, widely respected in Europe, is considered keen to become president, a seven-year term. But party leaders in the unusual unity coalition are nervous about who might replace him as premier if he moves to the Quirinal presidential palace.