The (in English, "white semester") is an Italian legislative term referring to the last six months of the

President of Italy The president of Italy, officially denoted as president of the Italian Republic ( it, Presidente della Repubblica Italiana) is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity, and guarantees that Italian poli ...

's seven-year term of office. According to Article 88 of the

Italian Constitution The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...

, the President cannot dissolve the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitio ...

and call a new election during the last six months of their term. The prohibition was initially absolute. However, a constitutional amendment was passed in November 1991 creating an exception in cases where the normal five-year term of the parliament ends during the last six months of the President's term. The 1991 amendment came about when Francesco Cossiga's term as President was due to expire on 3 July 1992, only one day after the natural expiration of the 10th Italian Legislature (2 July 1992), thus leaving no one constitutionally empowered to call the next election. The 2013 Italian general election on 24-25 February resulted in a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...

. By early April 2013, a government had still not been formed. President Giorgio Napolitano was by that time in the ''semestre bianco'' of his term and would have been unable to call a new election if it were needed to resolve the deadlock. However, on 20 April 2013, he agreed to run in the Italian presidential election, and was elected to an unprecedented second term, thus renewing his mandate to call a new election if necessary.

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

(20 April 2013)
"Italy crisis: President Giorgio Napolitano re-elected"
Retrieved 22 April 2013.

References

Government of Italy Law of Italy {{Italy-law-stub