Posted on 04/20/2006 1:55:03 AM PDT by MadIvan
Italy's political limbo ended yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled that Romano Prodi had beaten Silvio Berlusconi in the country's bitterly fought general election.
The court ruled that Mr Prodi's centre-Left coalition had won by just under 25,000 votes in the disputed lower house, a margin that was almost unchanged from the initial verdict 10 days ago, despite a succession of claims of voting fraud and shrill demands for recounts by Mr Berlusconi.
Allies of Mr Berlusconi, 69, who remains prime minister until a new government is sworn in, insisted that their leader and his centre-Right coalition would not concede defeat until every last suspect ballot form had been checked.
But a spokesman for the billionaire media magnate who has governed for the last five years said that the prime minister would "of course accept the decision''. Mr Berlusconi was meeting aides last night to prepare his formal response.
Mr Prodi's response to the court ruling was instant, as was that of his supporters, who organised impromptu street parties.
"Finally it is over," said Mr Prodi, 66, the former president of the European Commission, whose customary grey appearance was replaced yesterday by a broad smile.
"We will work to deserve the trust that our voters have shown us and to earn the trust of those who have legitimately decided to vote for the other coalition."
Before Mr Prodi can assume power the new parliament, which convenes next week, must first elect a new president to replace Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, whose term ends on May 18.
Of course, if he does nothing, his government will collapse anyway, because the centrist parties in his coalition will revolt.
Even if he does little, his government will collapse anyway because it won't be enough to solve Italy's problems.
All Silvio has to do is wait and prepare. If I was him, I'd be preparing a new programme and laughing my arse off at having given Prodi a poisoned chalice.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Does anyone know if there is any truth to the report that it was leftwing voters from the USA which tilted the election?
It was more complicated than that - actully I think there were relatively few voters in North America, but I'll have to check that. (The final votes can be found at Corriera della Sera's homepage - I'll post the link to you when I come home from work.)
There was a majority of "Olive" votes also in Europe.
However, Berlusconi could still have won if his coalition had formed one party also for the overseas voters, just as Prodi did. Apparently there were more conservative/liberal voters than centre/left voters, but since a lot of the votes that could have gone to Berlusconi went to small parties Prodi ended up with a majority in the Senate.
Now, will we hear "stolen election", "he didn't get a popular majority", "he has no mandate" from the Left?
Place your bets, Ladies and Gentlemen....
Perhaps the silver lining here is that since a Communist backed candidate has absolutely no real chance to improve Italy's lot, his failure will motivate voters to support true reform in the next election.
The leftists in Spain seem to enjoy their appeaser leader, perhaps the Italians will grow to love theirs also.
Lesson for the US: it's better not to have a coalition than to have one where the people are against participation.
We have very little to show for Italy/Spain's participation in the war, except for friendly fire incidents turned into criminal complaints and ransoms paid for questionable hostages (Sgrena).
I'd be a bit surprised if Berlusconi ever runs again. Some of the first things the center-left is likely to implement are rules requiring that the economic assets of candidates be placed in blind trust, and also requiring much stricter disclosure. The Communists sure won't object to that..
It actually may be best if Silvio doesn't run again - to be fair, he didn't really get to grips with the reforms the Italian economy requires.
Regards, Ivan
Agreed. This government wont last long...
Is that in Tuscany? Florence is fantastic, but I really enjoyed Sienna. It was like a city out of a picture book. I love the history of Italy, and the people. They do know how to have fun. Of course the trains don't run on time like they do in Germany.
If history tells us anything Prodi will be governing based on the recommendations of his Ouija board. That means Berlusconi only has to wait.
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