Posted on 04/14/2008 1:24:05 PM PDT by knighthawk
Silvio Berlusconi has won a crushing victory in the Italian general election to become prime minister for the third time.
The 71-year-old media magnate defeated Walter Veltroni, the 52-year-old leader of the Democratic Party, by a considerable margin and has a large enough majority to rule Italy for a full five-year term.
Mr Veltroni, who was a popular mayor of Rome before entering national politics, conceded defeat five hours after the polls closed, saying that the result was clear.
"I have telephoned Mr Berlusconi to wish him well in the job," he said, adding that he was comforted that Italy had not lost faith in politics, despite being called to its 62nd election in 63 years.
"The country has strongly emphasised its belief in democracy and its institutions. More than 80 per cent of citizens voted."
He also offered his help to Mr Berlusconi in "carrying out reforms" but admitted that Italy's Left wing is destined for a long spell in opposition.
"We cannot know how long it will be," he said.
Projections showed that Mr Berlusconi's coalition won 163 seats in the Senate, compared to 141 seats for Mr Veltroni.
In Italy's lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, the count was 332 seats to 215.
The perma-tanned billionaire said he was "deeply satisfied" with the result.
The Senate was a key battleground for Mr Berlusconi.
Unlike in the UK, both houses of Italy's parliament have an equal amount of executive power.
However, seats in the Senate are distributed on a regional basis. Any party that wins the majority in a region automatically gets 55 per cent of its seats.
Since each party holds a roughly similar number of regions, many commentators doubted whether Mr Berlusconi would be able to win a solid majority.
However, Mr Veltroni warned that Mr Berlusconi's government could be held to ransom by the Northern League, the secessionist party headed by Umberto Bossi, his coalition partner.
"The League is strong. We are a great force!" said Mr Bossi after winning between seven and eight per cent of the vote.
Mr Bossi, who is one of Italy's most controversial and unpredictable politicians, called on Mr Berlusconi to give him a large share of cabinet posts and to carry out the devolution of Italy "immediately".
His party is bent on splitting the industrial north of the country away from the poor regions of the south.
Mr Bossi has wrecked Mr Berlusconi's government before, when he broke off their alliance in 1994.
Although Mr Veltroni lost the election, he was praised for bringing about a revolution in Italian politics.
In the past, the Italian parliament was filled with dozens of squabbling parties.
Romano Prodi's government, for example, was made up of 11 separate parties, ranging from Catholics to communists.
Unsurprisingly, it was unable to find a consensus on any political issue and collapsed under the weight of its contradictions.
But in this election, Mr Veltroni and Mr Berlusconi captured more than 70 per cent of the vote between them, heralding the beginning of a two party system.
Mr Veltroni brought about that change with a New Labour-style purge of Italy's radical parties.
"We have done the right thing for the country," he said.
An alliance of communists and environmentalists, the Arcobaleno party, apparently failed to capture a single seat in either house.
"This is a debacle!" said Nino Frosini, the leader of the Communist Party in Tuscany.
Italy's struggling businesses immediately called on Mr Berlusconi to help them.
"We need to find our confidence again," said Emma Marcegaglia, the head of Confindustria, the pro-business lobby group.
She called for tax reforms and investment in education and "human capital".
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Excellent. The man tells the world that conservative women are more beautiful than the liberal hags and wins the election. Another death blow for political correctness.
Hmmm, pretty good news, yes?
Whoa! When did this happen?
Last week. :o)
I will wait for a full report on this defeat of the left on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. I’m sure it will follow the continuing coverage of “bittergate”.
Berlusconi rocks! See, Europe is not completely lost.
“This is a debacle!” wailed the head of Italy’s Communist Party.
Hope our dims have reason to say the same thing in November.
Sounds as if Italy may be the new place to live as long as you are conservative.No political correctness.I like it.
Their Democratic party is much better than ours.
So, they get Berlusconi and we get stuck with McCain?
Germany, France, and now Italy! Wow!
And THAT'S if we are lucky.
Seems like Italy changes govt. as often as flashlight batteries. At least they move a few scant ticks to the right anyway. Still socialist and too many corrupt mafioso.
That's a pretty small range...
Sure.
But can he get us a room in Tuscany?
Governments don’t solve problems. They rearrange them.
- Ronald Reagan
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