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Sunday, July 20, 2008

ITALIAN ELECTIONS

Back to Berlusconi

Two months after the collapse of Romano Prodi's coalition, Italian voters handed media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi a compelling victory, as the centre-right coalition secured a strong majority in both chambers of parliament.

Less than two years after losing to Romano Prodi by a handful of votes, 71-year-old Silvio Berlusconi secured a triumphant win in Italy's general election on April 13-14. The veteran media tycoon is heading for a third term as the country’s prime minister, backed this time by a strong majority in both chambers of parliament.

The leader of the People of Freedom (PdL) now has to work on much-needed reforms to get the country’s ailing economy back on track. He is also expected to deliver on campaign pledges to tackle the waste crisis in Naples and save the ailing national carrier Alitalia.

Buoyed by strong showings from Berlusconi’s regional allies, the rightwing coalition won 344 seats out of 630 in the lower chamber of parliament. At the other end, Walter Veltroni’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and his ally the Italy of Values (IdV) together took 246 seats. More surprisingly, Berlusconi’s coalition secured a clear majority in the Senate, with 174 seats to the Left’s 132.

Having played a key part in the Right’s victory, the Northern League is the elections’ other main winner. The populist anti-immigration party doubled its share of the vote since 2006, securing a whopping 60 seats in parliament’s lower chamber. More importantly, the vote confirmed the emergence of a two-party system in Italy. A mere six parties will be represented in parliament, down from some thirty during Prodi’s latest term in office, while communist and socialists will be absent for the first time in the Republic’s history.

Silvio Berlusconi, again The sudden collapse of Romano Prodi's coalition left parties scrambling to prepare a political platform for the ensuing campaign. In a battle that has more to do with personalities than policies, Silvio Berlusconi is a unique contender.

Veltroni: Rome's Obama? A fan of Barack Obama and American pop culture, the former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni is hoping to overturn Berlusconi's massive lead. Can he carry his centre-left Democratic Party to a fairy-tale victory? "Yes we can," says his campaign slogan.

'Heading for a two-party system' The platforms of the centre-right PdL party and the centre-left PD party have been strikingly similar, says Marc Lazar, a researcher at Sciences-Po Paris. But the big challenge confronting the winner will be reforming Italy’s electoral law.

Bread and butter issues clog up ballot boxes More and more Italians struggle to afford basic foodstuff such as pasta and bread and candidates in Sunday’s upcoming election promise to have the solution. (Report: A. Masciarelli, M. Codrino, M. Felicetti, S. Taddei)