Italy's President Poised to Take Steps Toward Early Elections
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano
today is likely to announce his decision to dissolve parliament,
a move that would pave the way for snap elections in April after
Senate President Franco Marini failed to get cross-party support
to form an interim government.
Marini met with Napolitano at 6:30 p.m. yesterday to tell
the president that he didnt have enough support to form a
temporary administration with the task of revamping voting laws.
Napolitanos office released a faxed statement yesterday evening
saying the head of state had “taken note of what Marini told
him.
“He has no choice at this point; elections appear the only
way out, said James Walston, a professor of politics at Romes
American University.
Italys former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and
Gianfranco Fini, his top ally, yesterday called for elections
straight away, effectively sinking any chance Marini had of
succeeding. Berlusconi, 71, is a former prime minister, and
leader of Forza Italia, the countrys largest political party,
and his support is key to any interim government.
The likeliest scenario is Napolitano will take the
institutional steps and call elections 70 days after he has
dissolved parliament. According to the 1948 constitution, as head
of state he still has the option to ask someone else to try and
form a government.
Napolitanos wish had been to stave off early elections
before a new electoral procedure was in place. The current
electoral law favors smaller parties and creates unmanageable
coalition governments like Premier Romano Prodis, which
collapsed on Jan. 24 after less than two years in power.
Berlusconi Frontrunner
With the three allies that made up his last coalition
government, Berlusconi would currently win 58 percent of the
vote, compared with 42 percent for the opposition composed
largely of Rome Mayor Walter Veltronis Democratic Party, a poll
by Ipsos for LEspresso magazine showed. The pollster interviewed
1,013 likely voters on Jan. 28 and the survey had a 3 percentage-
point margin of error.
An IPR Marketing poll for la Repubblica newspaper showed
Berlusconis coalition would get 55.7 percent of the vote, while
the Democratic Party and its allies would win 44 percent. IPR
surveyed 1,000 voters on Jan. 27-28 and the survey had a 3
percentage-point margin of error.
