ROME — Italian lawmakers on Saturday elected Sergio Mattarella, a veteran politician and constitutional court judge, as the country’s president, a post that is expected to be redefined during his tenure.
Mr. Mattarella was elected by lawmakers from both houses of Parliament and regional delegates on the third day of voting, when only a simple majority was needed, instead of the two-thirds required in the early votes. He won 665 votes out of a possible 1,009, signaling wide consensus across the political spectrum.
His election is also a political victory for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who had sponsored Mr. Mattarella’s candidacy and asked his cantankerous party, and his broad coalition, to back his choice.
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Mr. Mattarella was first elected to office in 1983 as a member of the Christian Democratic Party, which dominated postwar Italy until it imploded after a series of bribery scandals in the early 1990s. He went on to hold a number of high-level government posts under the Christian Democrats and in later center-left governments. He served in Parliament until 2008. In 2011, he was elected by Parliament to Italy’s Constitutional Court.
Mr. Mattarella’s victory came without much of the high drama that normally exists during Italy’s presidential elections, including the settling of scores and horse-trading. Two years ago, this Parliament was unable to break a deadlock as it tried to elect a successor to President Giorgio Napolitano at the end of his seven-year term. Mr. Napolitano, now 89, agreed to stay on temporarily. He resigned this month, citing his advanced age.
