Date:16/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/16/stories/2008041660931600.htm

International

Seeking stability, Italians vote Berlusconi to power

Vaiju Naravane

Rome: Italian voters made a massive return to the Right giving Silvio Berlusconi (71), Italy’s richest man who has twice served as Prime Minister, a new and stable mandate in the elections held on Sunday and Monday.

Mr. Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) party won a comfortable majority in the Chamber of Deputies or Lower house and, more surprisingly, a convincing majority in the Senate, where the outcome was more uncertain. Although final results have yet to come in, he is set to win 163 seats in the 315-member Senate.

His nearest rival Walter Veltroni who had broken away from the left-wing coalition alliance of yore to form his own Democratic Party conceded defeat. “I wish him luck and am prepared to work with him on structural reforms,” the former Mayor of Rome said.

Italy holds the record for political instability in Europe, having had 62 governments in the 63 years since the Second World War. Mr. Berlusconi’s majority (he is the only Prime Minister to have served a full five-year term) should allow his country to emerge from the era of shaky coalitions. However, the sharp differences, bordering on mutual suspicion and contempt between the country’s rich northern regions and the south persist, and one of Mr. Berlusconi’s coalition partners, Umberto Bossi of the Northern League could prove to be an unwieldy fellow companion. Mr. Bossi, who has long called for an Italian federation made up of the country’s northern, central and southern regions, would like the north to stop subsidising the poorer south. This could pose problems for the new Prime Minister-elect.

High expectations

Expectations of the new government are also very high. Italy is witnessing a deep economic crisis with the economy growing at a mere 0.6 per cent. This time Mr. Berlusconi will not be able to blame coalition politics for his economic failures. The media magnate who has cast himself in the role of a paternalistic grandfather and an almost unwilling leader, has refrained from promising any miracles. More than eight in 10 voters backed one or the other of the two biggest blocs — Mr. Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) and Mr. Veltroni’s Democratic Party (PD). This marks a shift from the usual dispersion of votes amongst scores of squabbling political formations from the Left and the Right. The vote has been concentrated at the centre.

The Left, which has been a strong force in Italian politics and on many occasions played the role of “kingmaker” suffered severe reversals this time indicating that Italians crave political stability even at the cost of putting Mr. Berlusconi, whose past performances as Prime Minister have been less than happy, back in power.