Belated Best Man

Before they finally chose Giovanni Leone, 63. as President of Italy last week, the nation's "grand electors" had seemed intent upon proving themselves incapable of dealing with politics either simply or logically. As the curious and unseemly squabble over who should get Italy's highest political office dragged on inconclusively for a record 16 days and 23 ballots, one vote was cast for Alighiero Noschese, a television comedian who does a splendid impersonation of Richard Nixon. On another ballot, one elector absentmindedly dropped a love letter into the green wicker voting urn. Most of the time, there were so many astenuti, or abstainers, that the joke went round that the Onorevole Astenuti ("the Honorable Mr. Astenuti") was the most promising candidate of all.

While the Italians watched the televised spectacle with mixed feelings of amusement and contempt, the long-deadlocked electors did manage to prove, among other things, that the dominant Christian Democrats are a party only in name. In fact, the name encompasses a loose alliance of fluctuating factions numbering anywhere from nine to twelve. Historically, every time a new Christian Democratic leader has emerged, he has been chewed up by piranha-like subordinates who inexplicably have sought to rise to the top, where they knew that they too would be eaten in turn.

The latest leader-victim was Amintore Fanfani, the party's first candidate lor President and a former Premier (1954, 1958-59, 1960-63). The diminutive Fanfani was able to win only 393 of the Christian Democrats' 423 votes. These would need to be heavily supplemented by votes from other parties in order for him to win a majority of the 630 Deputies, 320 Senators and 58 regional representatives who constituted the electors. After the 19th futile ballot, Fanfani was unceremoniously dumped.

Farcical Way. The Christian Democrats' most plausible alternative was Foreign Minister Aldo Moro, who had the support of Premier Emilio Colombo--a centrist Christian Democrat --some rightists and two of the strongest left-wing factions. No one doubted that Moro could have easily been elected, because he was acceptable to the 259 Communists as well as the 105 Socialists. But he was wholly unacceptable to other Christian Democratic factions, most notably the followers of Fanfani. Instead, the party settled on another former Premier: Leone. There was a measure of justice in the choice: Leone had lost in the 1964 presidential election largely because of Fanfani's opposition. At the time, he had complained that the balloting process was akin to "Chinese torture," but now he agreed to undergo that torture again, though he declined to campaign or to treat the exercise with great seriousness.

On his first ballot as candidate, and the 22nd of the election, Leone polled 503 votes, just one short of a majority. The candidate of the Marxists, Old Socialist Pietro Nenni, ran a poor second, with 408 votes. Next day, Leone finally made it with 518 votes--and without the support of the Communists, who had desperately wanted to be kingmakers. After a deadlock that left some Italians wondering whether their country was really ready for democracy, Italy at last had a President.

As sometimes happens in Italian politics, the electors, in a farcically roundabout way, had chosen the best man. Warm, witty and engaging, Leone is respected for his probity by the leftist parties as well as by most Christian Democrats. Born in Naples, he is one of the country's finest criminal lawyers and has written more than 100 books on jurisprudence. He served as a caretaker Premier twice, and was an impartial president of the Chamber of Deputies for eight years. In 1967, he was appointed Senator for life. Beyond Leone's personal qualifications for the job, there was one other reason why many Italians were ready to forgive the Deputies for their indecision and rejoice in the final selection. That was Vittoria Leone, 42, a radiant beauty, who as the new hostess of the Palazzo del Quirinale will rival--and, said some, perhaps overshadow--Madame Claude Pompidou of France as the most beautiful of Europe's first ladies.

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