Berlusconi back to the top for the third time
By Daniele Di Santo
Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Berlusconi’ s coalition won 47 percent of the popular vote, against 38 percent cast for his opponent, the former mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni.

His outcome was certain, but not with this big advantage.

Great performance for the recent Party for Freedom, established just last year from the two political parties Forza Italia and National Alliance.

The victory in Italian national election last April 13th and 14th marked a remarkable return to power to the conservative 71-year-old Berlusconi who begins his third tenure as premier after his lost to the center-left of Mr. Prodi two years ago.

Berlusconi recorded strong victories in both houses of Parliament, despite a strong final sprint of his contestant, Walter Veltroni.

Of the 315 Senate seats, Berlusconi acquired the control with 167 seats to Veltroni’ s 137 ones. In the lower house, the conservative part was leading by a margin of 7 percent, or 46 percent of the vote to 39 percent.

Berlusconi was able to take advantage of popular discontent over the stagnating economy and the unpopularity of recent Prodi’ s government in last two years.

In his comeback, Berlusconi was helped by a strong showing by the Northern League, his important ally of regional popularity and anti-immigrant policy, which won more than 6 percent of the vote.

Berlusconi announced last Tuesday some members of his cabinet, including Franco Frattini, who has served as EU justice commissioner, and Giulio Tremonti, who will return as finance minister.

Now many problems await, from cleaning piles of trash off at the streets in Naples, which the new premier has indicated as top priority, to improving Italian economy that has been sluggish for years compared with the rest of Europe.

In his first post-election comments, Berlusconi said he was open to working with the opposition and pledged to fight against tax evasion, reform justice and reduce public debt.

From the other side, all political campaign long Mr. Veltroni not seems to be creative and energetic enough to galvanize voters on his part.

For the first time, far-left groups, like the Communist Party, will not be in the Parliament.


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