Italian lawmakers will start voting to elect the country’s new president on Jan. 24, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi a top contender in a process that could last several days and spark political turmoil. The date of the first secret ballot for choosing a successor to President Sergio Mattarella was announced by the head of the parliament’s lower chamber, Roberto Fico, on Tuesday.

More than 1,000 deputies, senators and delegates will vote once a day in Rome’s parliament, in a process that has been compared to the election of a new pope. Draghi, 74, is regularly floated as a leading prospect to follow Mattarella, whose seven-year term runs out early next month.