Before, there had been his no to the encore, pronounced several times. Warnings to sailors to reiterate that he was not “eligible” for a race in which he did not intend to participate. A refusal motivated with constitutional perplexities which however clashes with the absence of a rule that could prevent re-election. Then, during the voting for his successor at the Quirinale, Sergio Mattarella did not want to comment, nor did he leak anything even when the great voters indicated his name in the failed votes. Until he had to take note that his opposition
Between Palermo and Rome
That he did not think about his re-election was also understood by the fact that Mattarella, while Parliament was meeting in common session, was seen in the new rented apartment in Rome to check the progress of the works and the removal of his belongings from historic house in Palermo. It is the city where he was born in 1941, although his training took place in Rome, where the family had moved in the wake of his father, Bernardo, a Christian Democrat politician, several times minister in the 1950s and 1960s. In the capital Mattarella he attended San Leone Magno and graduated in law from the Sapienza University. Then in Palermo he becomes a professor of Constitutional Law.
The murder of his brother
The episode that marks the turning point takes place precisely in the Sicilian capital: on the morning of January 6, 1980, his brother Piersanti, president of the Sicily Region, a pupil of Aldo Moro at the university and protagonist of the island’s political renewal, is killed before his eyes of his wife and children while the family goes to mass. A shot by the photojournalist Letizia Battaglia captures Sergio Mattarella, as he tries to rescue his dying brother. The men of the Mafia dome were convicted of the murder, including Totò Riina and Bernardo Provenzano. But the perpetrator was never identified.
From that drama Mattarella found the desire to pursue a political career that was not in his plans. He was elected with the Christian Democrats (Morotean current) in the Chamber for the first time in 1983 and was confirmed in subsequent legislatures until 2008. With the end of the DC in 1994 he was among the promoters of the Italian People’s Party. Later in the ranks first of the Margherita and then of the Olive tree.
Government experiences
His first government post came in 1987 (Minister of Relations with Parliament in the Goria government and in the De Mita government). In 1989 he became Minister of Education (sixth Andreotti government) but resigned the following year in disagreement with the “Mammì law” (television broadcasters) which legitimized the television duopoly with Rai and Silvio Berlusconi’s commercial televisions. He is Vice President of the Council of the first D’Alema government (1998-99) and Minister of Defense of the second D’Alema government and of the Amato government (2000-01). Under his management, the “naja”, compulsory military service, was abolished. In 2011 he was appointed judge of the Constitutional Court by the Parliament in joint session. Then on January 31, 2015 the election as twelfth president of the Republic with an absolute majority, 665 votes out of 995 of the voters, on the fourth ballot.