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".
Continental Europeans are far less PC than their Anglo and American cousins.
Hmmmm...this tells me Spain could be next...reversal...
Bush’s WoT
It is not PRESIDENT Bush's WOT. Did you just come in from KOS or DU?
I second the nomination! (It was my favorite line in the article.)
"perma-tanned billionaire"
I need to get me one of those...perma-tans, that is. ;o)
That is awesome -- no communists in either legislature. Amazing. Plus, Berlusconi clearly has a large majority in both chambers, so he's going to be there for a while.
Oh wow...the fact that that old crook Bersculoni has gotten elected again is not my idea of great news, even though it is better than having the commies in power, and granted that he is very un-PC.
Yes, it is really a great day for Italy: no communists and strong government? Whoa, it's like a dream come true, I honestly would have never thought to see this happen :-))
Viva Italia! Viva la liberta’! :-D
“Hard to believe the guy’s 71. Must be that Mediterranean air or something.”
Obviously the Italians do not have a problem with hiring a 71 year old man for their Prime Minister. He’s the same age as McCain. Hope the MSM doesn’t persuade our U.S. voters that 71 is ancient, which they are trying very hard to do this very moment. We can point to Berlusconi as an exampple of a youthful 71 who is now Prime Minister in Italy, so time to hire McCain in the U.S. If Italy can do it, so can we.
McCain doesn’t look as good as this guy though, McCain looks like he is in his 80s.
“McCain doesn’t look as good as this guy though, McCain looks like he is in his 80s.”
Well I suppose 5 years in a prison camp with a battered and broken body does that to you. He’s still pretty spry for his age, and the rigors of campaigning haven’t worn him down, it appears. He seems to thrive on it. I’ll give him that.
“Hopefully McCain will round up the tally.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>....................
LOL you must be joking - a CINO like McCain makes
for the most liberal president since Carter.
For those who can think..a Demorat in the White House will result is much less damage then another RINO like Bush..
McCain will move far left if elected and appoint several
demorats to his cabinet and submit leftist jurists to the courts as a favor to his buddies Kennedy, Finegold, Liberman, and Yes Hillary who he dotes on.
Tell that to the Australian and British troops who fight in the front line in the war on terror.
Well that's true of course. England and Australia are still our strongest allies.
But the drift to the left in their foreign policies should not be ignored. Some countries like Germany, France and Italy are clearly rejecting the message of the Left. And some, like England and Australia apparently haven't been burned enough yet by their wacko left to get the message.
Italy got “Change!”
They didn’t like it.
This is good news.
There's nothing available. Trust me.
I'm still trying to figure out this loss of respect that the world is having about America & Bush. If it's true, why is France electing Sarkozy, Canada electing Harper, Germany electing Merkle and Italy using the way back machine to re-elect Berlusconi? All of them replacing rabid anti-American and anti-Bush leaders.
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