President Sergio Mattarella of Italy has been sworn in for a second seven-year term. After Italian political parties failed to agree on a successor, the 80-year-old agreed to stay on as president.
On Thursday, parliament erupted in applause as Mattarella spoke of his sense of duty during the COVID-19 outbreak and Italy's stumbling economy.
“The parliament and regional representatives made their decision,” Mattarella said. “For me, it is a new, unexpected call to responsibility that I cannot and don’t expect to escape.”
Mattarella is the second president to accept a second term, following Giorgio Napolitano, who opted to remain on after a similar political impasse before stepping down in 2015 at the age of nearly 90.
Although the function of the Italian President is mostly ceremonial, it does necessitate institutional knowledge and the capacity to negotiate in order to avert political crises.
The current government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi is anticipated to complete its mandate, which expires next year, if Mattarella stays in power.
The president called for unity on Thursday, stating Italian citizens would have been "jeopardised by a prolonged state of political uncertainty and tensions."
Mattarella, a former lawyer, was initially hesitant to accept a second term, but Draghi's coalition government's split parties were unable to agree on a common presidential candidate.
For 25 years, the 80-year-old Italian MP served as a cabinet minister on five times.
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