(AGI) - Rome, Jan 31 - Sergio Mattarella has been electedPresident of the Italian Republic with 665 votes in favour and105 blank ballots. These are the figures that sum up the day.The breakthrough result came at the fourth ballot. "My thoughtsprimarily go to the difficulties and hopes of ourfellow-Italians", said the newly elected President of theRepublic, after he was greeted by a warm applause by theParliament. "He is an impartial guarantor of constitutionalreforms", said outgoing President, Giorgio Napolitano. "We wishyou all possible success, President Mattarella! Long liveItaly", wrote Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in a tweet.President-elect Mattarella will be sworn in on Tuesday and willpay a visit to the Fosse Ardeatine, the monument commemoratingthe mass killing carried out in Rome on 24 March 1944 by Germantroops. There is quite a lot of expectation for his inauguralspeech and to know the future members of his staff: his futureSecretary-General is rumoured to be Sandro Pajno, who was Chiefof Staff when Mattarella was Public Education Minister, butalso Ugo Zampetti, Secretary General at the Chamber of Deputiesfrom 1999 to 2014. His election inaugurates the post-Napolitanoera. "He is a jurist: he won't allow anything strange tohappen. He just won't put up with unconstitutionalfoolishness", said former leftist Democratic Party (PD) leader,Pier Luigi Bersani. His comments were not well received bysupporters of Prime Minister Renzi. "The truth of the matter isthat we have succeeded where they have failed. Renzi clearlytook into consideration that Mattarella is an independentfigure and he himself underscored his impartiality", said a PDrepresentative. A cabinet minister pointed out that hiselection will also open a new era in the the relationshipbetween institutions. "We wish the new President SergioMattarella a successful seven-year term in the sign of growth,stability and relations with Europe", wrote European ParliamentPresident, Martin Schulz, in a tweet in Italian. He was thefirst high-ranking international political leader to publiclycongratulate the newly elected Italian President of theRepublic. The election of Sergio Mattarella quickly made theheadlines on the home page of the websites of leadinginternational newspapers, from the BBC to Der Spiegel, from theFinancial Times to El Pais, all of which saluted the newPresident and recalled the long applause which hailed hiselection in Parliament. French newspaper Le Monde recalled that"he was elected with 665 votes, amply above the 505 vote quorumneeded". The newspaper also added another detail highlightinghis sober way of life: "After remaining shut up in anunprepossessing service apartment, he was seen gobbled up intraffic on a grey Panda, with which he was heading for hisdaughter's home to await the results". .