Italian lawmakers will elect the country's next president on January 24 with current prime minister Mario Draghi among the contenders.
Even if their functions are in theory essentially honorary, the president of the Italian Republic has a key role in the event of a government crisis.
It was in this context that the outgoing president, Sergio Mattarella, turned to Draghi -- the former head of the European Central Bank -- in February to succeed Giuseppe Conte as prime minister after the latter lost his majority in parliament.
Draghi, 74, has since been at the head of a broad government coalition ranging from the left to Matteo Salvini's sovereignist League and the right-wing of Silvio Berlusconi, who at 85 would like to see himself as president
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