Italy’s parliament has elected constitutional court judge Sergio Mattarella as the country’s president.
Mr Mattarella, 73, will succeed Giorgio Napolitano, 89, who stood down earlier this month citing « signs of fatigue ».
The result, confirmed on a third day of voting, will be seen as a boost for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who nominated Mr Mattarella.
Italy’s president is largely a ceremonial role, but includes the power to appoint a prime minister.
That power is one quite frequently invoked in Italy, where politics is famously volatile.
Mr Napolitano named five prime ministers during his eight-and-a-half-years in office.
Analysis: James Reynolds, BBC News, Rome
Sergio Mattarella comes from a prominent Sicilian family which bears the scars of a painful fight against organised crime.
In 1980, the Mafia shot and killed Mr Mattarella’s elder brother Piersanti, then the island’s governor. Sergio Mattarella entered politics three years later, as a member of parliament for the now-defunct Christian Democrat party.
He later became a minister in several governments and once stood down in opposition to plans to make it easier for Silvio Berlusconi’s media empire to expand.
Most recently. Mr Mattarella has been a justice of Italy’s Constitutional Court. But he continues to be most well-known here as a politician and ally of the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Sergio Mattarella’s election to the presidency is widely seen as a significant political victory for the prime minister.
Applause
Mr Mattarella was elected after three inconclusive rounds of voting, in which no candidate secured the two-thirds majority needed to win.
Saturday’s fourth round required merely a simple majority of the 1,009 eligible voters to produce a result.
Applause broke out in the Chamber of Deputies as Mr Mattarella’s vote passed the 505-vote threshold.
He is expected to be sworn in next week.
