Berlusconi storms back to power

By Vaiju Naravane

PARIS, MAY 14. The Italian media tycoon, Mr. Silvio Berlusconi (64), today stormed back to power when his conservative House of Freedoms alliance won a comfortable majority in the Chamber of Deputies (lower House) and a majority in the Senate.

Mr. Berlusconi's main rival, Mr. Francesco Rutelli of the left wing Olive Tree Alliance fared poorly in the elections, winning only 160 seats in the 630-member Chamber of Deputies as against Mr. Berlusconi's score of over 380 seats. In the 315- member Senate, Mr. Berlusconi's alliance has won 204 seats.

These figures will change when the final count comes in. Mr. Berlusconi's spokesman, Mr. Paolo Bonaiuti, said the House of Freedoms alliance had ``won a clear majority in both the Senate and the lower House which would guarantee stability and credibility to the country.''

The vote was a complicated affair with separate ballot papers for the legislative and municipal polls and for the 25 per cent seats which are decided on the basis of proportional representation. There were huge queues of voters outside polling booths and the voting had to be extended up to 11 p.m. to allow everyone to vote.

The heavy turnout had buoyed the spirits of Mr. Rutelli who said on Sunday that good voter mobilisation would mean more votes for him. But voters clearly expressed their choice in favour of the man widely seen as the personification of Italy's most spectacular success story.

That said, the vote was not the plebiscite for which Mr. Berlusconi had hoped. He is far from getting the two-thirds majority required for ushering in constitutional changes and in the Senate, he would well have to depend on the votes of his fractious electoral ally, the Lega Nord.

The results show that the vilification campaign against Mr. Berlusconi by the left wing alliance did not pay off. Most of the European press had focused on the media tycoon's huge conflict of interests (he owns 50 per cent of Italy's television stations and now as Premier, will have control over the state-run Rai television network) between running the Government and looking after his business empire.

His interests include publishing, television, cinema houses, insurance, real estate and dotcom companies. He has also been under investigation for tax evasion and fraud. Two cases are still pending against him. None of the other charges have stuck.

None of the smaller parties, with the exception of the Lega Nord and the refounded Communist Party, got a single seat in Parliament or the Senate since they polled less than the minimum 4 per cent of the national vote required to win seats.

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Section  : International
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