Italy – Comment: Local elections – all eyes on Rome

On Sunday and Monday local elections were held in Italy. It was the first big occasion to measure the political temperature since the general elections in February. In my view the two most significant developments in Rome’s voting (and maybe a sign for things to come also on the national level) were:

Czerulf: Italy – Napolitano pushed into extra time

Giorgio Napolitano needs to go into extra time

Italy has witnessed a dramatic week. The Italian parliament was called in to elect a new President of the Republic. In normal times this could have been a straight forward affair, since the post is of mainly representative nature. But these are not normal times. With the economy in free fall, the unemployment rate on a level not seen in two decades and the trust in the political class on an all-time low, the President is now regarded as the only institution able to hold the Italian Republic together, not a minor assignment by any means. The task has fallen again onto Giorgio Napolitano‘s (age 87) shoulders.