Giorgio Napolitano has been sworn in as Italian President in parliament, the second seven year mandate for the head of state, who will turn 88 in June.
His continuation in office comes from the political crisis born of the recent elections.
Political scientist Gianfranco Pasquino joins us below as our interview guest, but first here's a recap of how Italy got into its present difficulties.
Italy is still in a political impasse -- two months after it held legislative elections. Its institutional stalemate is the product of the seemingly unsolvable puzzle of the February ballot.
The centre-left, led by Pier Luigi Bersani got an absolute majority in the lower house of parliament but not in the Senate. Three blocs there neutralised each other: the Democratic Party, Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right and the Five Star Movement of Beppe Grillo. Italy's electoral system requires the government to command a majority in both parliamentary chambers.
As Bersani's group came out ahead in the Chamber of Deputies, it fell to him to form a government, which meant seeking allies. Five Stars insisted on complete transparency in the negotiating, openly streaming those talks online, and Bersani got nowhere with them.
Vito Crimi, a Movemiento Cinque Stella Senator, said: "In the Senate we will vote against giving the Democratic Party our confidence, which is to say a government led by Bersani."
The alternative was to seek a grand coalition with Berlusconi, and he wanted this. But Bersani led those in the Democratic Party who didn't, though some of its members did. Bersani was flustered.
He said: "We have to explain why we don't want a grand coalition, not just say that we don't want it. Because we don't like Berlusconi? That's not an argument that will solve the problems. It's not just because people don't like Berlusconi. There are different problems -- the point is that this doesn't answer them."
It was impossible for 87-year-old Giorgio Napolitano, nearing the end of his term as President of the Republic, to call fresh elections to try to unblock the logjam, and so Italy was stuck in an institutional paralysis as it sank further into the economic mud.
In a joint session of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, along with special regional electors, it took six rounds of voting for the political blocs to produce a result, which was to keep Napolitano on for an unprecedented second term. Bersani tendered his resignation, paving the way for a leadership battle.
Napolitano agreed to serve for another seven years. He now has the power to dissolve parliament:
Grillo, calling for protest, said the traditional parties he blames for Italy's economic decline and corruption have already agreed to form a broad coalition to preserve the status quo.
We spoke to Gianfranco Pasquino, a university professor and political scientist in Bologna, to get his impressions.
