Can you please help me remember exactly when the Italians voted in elections for Mario Monti as prime minister? I just can't recall that!
You probably know this, but Italians don't vote for a PM directly, they vote for parliament and president. Monti was invited by the elected president to form a government, and confirmed by the elected parliament, after the previous PM resigned.
In most European countries - and so in Italy, you don't vote for a person, you vote for a party. This is usually a good idea, but can lead to unintended side-effects (See: United Kingdom).
Monti was supported by both democratically-elected Houses of Parliament, otherwise Napolitano would not have given him the task of creating a government.
> This is usually a good idea, but can lead to unintended side-effects (See: United Kingdom).
In the UK you very much vote for a person, using the arcane first past the post system. People usually vote based on party allegiance, but at the circonscription level you cast a vote for the one winner, resulting in massive disenfranchisement.
> In the UK you very much vote for a person
We're talking about the PM here. You vote for a person who then votes on the PM, so it's an indirect system.
> using the arcane first past the post system.
FPTP sucks, but I've never heard it called arcane before. It's arguably the default normal way to vote for anything.
How, exactly? I don't recall the EU appointing technocratic governments there, i recall elections and the Greek and Italian people making a choice. Choice in specific circumstances that probably influenced them, but same as any election during a crisis.