Word: berlusconi
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...Opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi refused to budge from his call for immediate elections, convinced that a quick vote will return him to the Prime Minister's office for a third time. Though not all his allies are as convinced of the wisdom of a quick vote, they don't want to damage their own future by going against him. Critics argue that even if the billionaire leader wins, under the current electoral law, he will lack the necessary leverage to get much done, just as Prodi's government...
...Franco Marini, pounding his gavel as the bubbly spilled out of the bottles onto the carpet. "This isn't a tavern here!" The final tally after nearly an hour: 161-156 to bring down the coalition, 20 months after Prodi eked out a victory over his perennial nemesis Silvio Berlusconi, the controversial TV mogul-turned-politico. It was all good theater, but yet another sign that Italy's political system is in serious disrepair...
...former European Union president challenged his fellow lawmakers to the individual oral vote on Thursday. After the vote, Prodi submitted his resignation to President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, who now has the task of either searching for Parliamentary support for a bipartisan caretaker government or calling snap elections. Berlusconi, his eyes on a chance to return to the Prime Minister's office, has demanded an immediate election...
...altering the current system will most likely produce a similary fragile majority, regardless of which side wins. Indeed Prodi was on the verge of a government crisis for nearly his entire 20-month reign. The former economics professor had similarly been pushed from power in 1998, after having beaten Berlusconi two years earlier...
Most expect that the next showdown at the polls will feature Berlusconi and Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, who was Prodi's No. 2 back in 1996-98 administration but is no longer close in the same camp. There are reports that Prodi will team up with small parties from the far left to try to stave off Veltroni's rise, which would no doubt bring on more nasty infighting. Many believe that a caretaker government made up of moderates from both center-left and center-right is necessary to bring about the reform necessary to bring more stability...