By next May, the latest possible date for Italy's forthcoming national election, the country's political landscape could look very different. For one thing a new law, strengthening the role of proportional representation in the voting system, may be in place. For another, the three main parties in Italy's ruling centre-right coalition, which has held power since June 2001, may have merged into a single, if loosely knit, movement. Most intriguingly of all, Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister who will turn 69 in September, may not even be the centre-right's candidate for premier. Italy's next election campaign will take place against...