Ex-communist Napolitano elected Italian president (AFP)

[Up2Late]

(This is so odd, the guy's 80! And isn't President of Italy a mostly ceremonial title? And don't we have a Napolitano in office somewhere?)

Ex-communist Napolitano elected Italian president

10/05/2006 11h40

ROME (AFP) - Former communist Giorgio Napolitano, 80, has been elected Italy's new president, gaining an absolute majority in a parliamentary vote which underlined the country's political divisions. The election of centre-left leader Romano Prodi's candidate was bitterly opposed by the conservatives of outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who marked their protest by voting with blank ballots.

The election of the senator for life and former parliament speaker now clears the way for Prodi to form a government early next week, five weeks after winning a bitterly contested general election. A confident Prodi said his new government could be sworn in by the new president "between Sunday and Tuesday" of next week.

That would be followed by a parliamentary vote of confidence before the following weekend. Napolitano received 542 votes in the fourth-round ballot, the first to be decided by an absolute majority.

All but a handful of the other votes cast by the 1,009 "Grand Electors" -- comprising both houses of parliament and regional representatives -- cast blank protest ballots. The incoming president, who turns 81 next month, received a two-minute ovation from parliament when lower house speaker formally declared him elected.

(more at link)

<http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/060510114056.ujo5hzrm.html>

[expatriot]

1. Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona. nt.

[Up2Late]

2. Oh that's right.

I just hope the RW media doesn't start trying to make a false connection between the two.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Napolitano is an Italian version of Smith

Hardly cause for any connection. :)

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

4. Well, hardly as common as a Smith...

Italian last names (the way they are spelled, how they are written and sometimes what they mean) indicate where someone's family comes from (as in, which region of Italy and sometimes which city).

'Napolitano' literally means 'from the city of Naples' and it is a surname commonly found around Naples and the surrounding regions in the Italian region of Campagna. Of course, it is also found among those from that region who emigrated to other parts of Italy.

A very common last name is 'Rossi' (lit. "red"), which is popular throughout Italy. Another is Bianchi (lit. white).

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Mille grazie

My own family is Napolitano, butthe etymology of our surname is Spanish, but came through Fierenza. Unlike most other Italian names of Spanish origin which came through Napoli, Salerno, or Palermo.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

7. It's Campania not Campagna

too late to edit original post!

[Up2Late]

6. But I'm talking about the RW Media here. They pander to...

...those in American society that need someone to tell them what to think.

All I'm saying is that if Fox starts using the words Napolitano and ex-Communist in the same sentences, she could find herself in a whole lot of trouble, come next election.

[Up2Late]

8. kick n/t

:kick: