Italy's President Sergio Mattarella Re-Elected, Easing Crisis
NDTV
Electing the 80-year-old ended weeks of hand-wringing over whether prized Prime Minister Mario Draghi should be elevated, with many fearing such a move would have left the government rudderless at a highly sensitive time.
Italy's parties Saturday voted overwhelmingly for outgoing President Sergio Mattarella to remain for another term, averting the political chaos a failure to elect his successor could have sparked in the eurozone's third-largest economy.
Electing the 80-year-old ended weeks of hand-wringing over whether prized Prime Minister Mario Draghi should be elevated, with many fearing such a move would have left the government rudderless at a highly sensitive time.
Mattarella needed to pocket 505 or more votes. He won 759, earning him another stint as president in spite of himself.
The former constitutional court judge had repeatedly ruled out serving for a second term, but gave in Saturday after Italy's bickering political parties failed to find another viable candidate.
