Race is on to find replacement for Italy's "King Giorgio"

Speculation is mounting on who will replace Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's longest serving head of state, with experts warning the next President of the Republic will continue to have a heightened role in Italian politics.

Napolitano, 89, formally resigned on Wednesday morning after serving nine years as president. A list of possible successors, including two former Prime Ministers and two current ministers, has already emerged.

The person chosen as Italy's head of state is usually a uncontroversial, authority figure who is acceptable to both left and right for the key job of refereeing the work of Italian governments.

But during a period of great uncertainty in Italy, featuring with a series of weak executives and economic crises, Napolitano made unusually full use of presidential powers to pick unelected Prime Ministers, and according to some pundits, even help remove Silvio Berlusconi from power in 2011 at the height of the sovereign debt crisis.

Political scientist Roberto D'Alimonte of Rome's LUISS university, said: "The choice of the new president will be a very, very important one. In uncertain times, as we've seen with Napolitano, the role of President of the Republic assumes a very great importance."

Prof D'Alimonte said that with another fragile coalition, that of Matteo Renzi, currently in power, the new head of state might be required to invoke one of his or her greatest constitutional powers, that is, to dissolve the current parliament, which might not last until 2018.

Two weeks' of frantic discussions are expected to take place before the Italian parliament, along with 58 regional deputies, meets on January 29 for the first round of voting to choose Napolitano's replacement.

Renzi said on Wednesday he hoped the new president will be named by the fourth voting session on 1 February, at which point a simple, rather than a two thirds, majority is needed to elect the head of state.

Analysts said it was important to name Napolitano's replacement as quickly as possible in order to avoid further political uncertainty and market jitters.

Napolitano was forced to stay on for an unprecedented second term in 2014 because Italy's parliament failed to agree on a successor to him.

Christian Schulz, a senior economist at Berenberg, warned that investors would be watching closely "after the recent experience of Greece, where the pro-reform government tripped over presidential elections on 29 December, triggering snap elections."

Romano Prodi and Giuliano Amato, both former Prime Ministers, as well as the current economy minister Pier Carlo Padoan and defence minister Roberta Pinotti have been named by press and pundits as possible replacements.

The choice of Napolitano's successor will be complicated - or certainly influenced - by the pact between Renzi and disgraced ex- premier and centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi over electoral reform.

The chances of Padoan becoming President are likely to have been hurt by the row that happened last week when it emerged that a new taxation decree might in theory help Silvio Berlusconi reverse his 2013 conviction for tax fraud.

And some pundits speculate that in return for maintaining his end of the electoral reform deal, Berlusconi will block the candidacy of his nemesis Prodi. In return, Renzi may get Berlusconi's approval for a moderate and less contentious centre-left figure such as Dario Franceschini, the current culture minister. The former centre-left mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni, has also emerged as a favorite in the eyes of some Italian newspapers.

Meanwhile, the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, dismissed speculation that he wanted the job.

La Repubblica suggested 40 possible successors, including the constitutional court judge Sergio Mattarella and the left-wing senator Anna Finocchiaro. However, Luigi La Spina, La Stampa's opinion writer, said: "The election of the President of the Republic is completely unpredictable."

Alberto Martinelli of Milan University agreed it was hard to predict who would be elected President of the Republic. But he added that it was vital for the new head of state to have the "right constitutional knowledge and political skills". The Italian president can thwart governments by refusing to sign unconstitutional laws or by blocking ministerial appointments.

Meanwhile, Renzi hailed the achievements of Napolitano on Wednesday, expressing "gratitude and emotion for what Giorgio Napolitano has done over the past nine years," and thanking him for his "political intelligence."

Giorgio Squinzi, president of the employers organization Confindustria said on Wednesday: "We would like to express the great esteem and affection of all Italian businessmen in saluting President Giorgio Napolitano. He was a real servant of the state in a particularly delicate moment in its history."

But not everyone has thanked President Napolitano, dubbed "King Giorgio" by some commentators, on account of his perceived his behind-the-scenes power plays.

Some claims emerged that in 2011 Napolitano helped remove Silvio Berlusconi's from the Prime Minister's office and replace him with Mario Monti, in cahoots with senior EC officials and with the encouragement of Germany and France.