Dagger, poison and snipers
But the election of Saragat came with great difficulty. The candidate of the DC was Giovanni Leone, but Aldo Moro, Prime Minister, wanted to stop his race and summoned Carlo Donat-Cattin, leader of Forze Nuove. He explained his goal to him, but left the choice of “technical means” to the DC exponent. Leaving the Palazzo Chigi Donat-Cattin explained to his colonels: “There are only three technical means: the dagger, the poison and the snipers.”
The insults on the ballots: “Cursed dwarf you will never be elected”
In 1971 Amintore Fanfani, President of the Senate, he was running for the Quirinale. In the Montecitorio buvette he confronted one of the princes of Italian journalism, Vittorio Gorresio, accusing him of not telling the truth: “Your articles are cut by your masters.” The press reporter replied the next day with a few lines: “Senator Fanfani’s language is not suited to a president, even only of the Senate.” More caustic a great voter, anonymous, who wrote a phrase on the ballot that became famous: “Damn dwarf, you will never be elected.” Eventually Fanfani retired and the president was elected to the Quirinale Giovanni Leone.
The election of Cossiga on the first ballot and wakes her up at dawn
The election to the first ballot of Francesco Cossiga is considered the political masterpiece of Ciriaco De Mita and tested the DC leader for the morning habits of the former minister. “I learned that I was the Christian Democrat candidate at the Quirinale two days before the joint session,” said Cossiga a few weeks after the vote. “De Mita phoned me, asking me to meet. I told him I’d go to him the next morning at half past seven. De Mita replied: “For this time, given the exceptional opportunity, it’s okay, but never again let me meet you at these hours” ». Cossiga flew to Spain on the eve of the appointment: «Yes, I’ve been there. However, I had already returned from Barcelona, where I met Jordi Pujol, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia. The aim, achieved, was to organize a conference on Iberian studies in Sardinia for next year ».
The tragedy of the attack on Giovanni Falcone
Dramatic election of the head of state in 1992. After the fifteenth ballot on the morning of Saturday 23 May failed, the next one was set for Sunday 24 at 17, but on Saturday afternoon there was the attack on Giovanni Falcone. In the Capaci massacre, the anti-Mafia magistrate Giovanni Falcone was killed, with his wife Francesca Morvillo, also a magistrate, and the escort agents Vito Schifani, Rocco Dicillo and Antonio Montinaro. The electors met regularly, but after the commemoration of the victims, as a sign of mourning the call was postponed to 18.30 the next day, Monday 25, when the election of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro.
The Frankish supporters of Mattarella
In general, during the elections there are surprises related to snipers, in the case of the election of Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale there was the case of the “free supporters”. From the calculation of the votes, in the end, he also collected about fifty votes from the center-right that were not in the plans of the president of Forza Italia. The centrists of FI and Ap were accused. There was no shortage of tears in the classroom. The League to protest against the hypothesis of Mattarella’s candidacy in the first ballot had the parliamentarians of the Carroccio presented in the classroom with an old page of the manifesto, from 1983, on which stood the title “We will not die Christian Democrats”. Among the curiosities, the predecessor of Mattarella al Colle, Giorgio Napolitano, who had resigned on January 14, came to the court to vote, being a senator for life from the day of his resignation from the Colle. Greeted by a long applause.