Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 14
Trend:
The 11th president of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano resigned Jan. 14, the RIA Novosti news agency said citing the Italian television channel RaiNews24.
The copies of the document on resignation of the 89-year-old Napolitano, whose seven-year term of office was due to expire in 2020, will be delivered personally by the secretary general of the president's office, Donato Marra, to Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and the Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of Italy's Parliament - Laura Boldrini and Pietro Grasso.
Grasso will be the acting president after Napolitano's resignation.
Boldrini, for her part, should, within 15 days, convene a joint meeting of both chambers of the parliament to elect a new president.
Napolitano is the first head of state in Italy's history to be elected for a second term.
In April 2013, when Napolitano was elected for a second term under the pressure of difficult political circumstances, he made it clear that he didn't intend to hold a highest state position before the end of the seven-year mandate.
Edited by SI