Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday dismissed last-ditch appeals for electoral reforms, insisting that only early elections could end the country's current political crisis.
The conservative leader, 71, "totally" rejected the idea of a transitional government in talks with Senate Speaker Franco Marini, who has been trying to ward off early polls in favour of overhauling a flawed electoral system. Such a government could not be formed without the support of Berlusconi, a billionaire who heads Forza Italia, the largest party on the Italian right.
Berlusconi, riding high in opinion polls, said an interim government would be "unhelpful and a harmful waste of time." "We are convinced that the best way to confront the serious problems of the country is to give Italy a legitimate government through popular elections that can be operational immediately," he said, adding that reaching an accord with the centre-left was "unrealistic" in the current climate.
"Marini has failed," said political analyst Roberto D'Alimonte, faulting the Senate speaker for "negotiating like a notary." The respected former union leader should have made "courageous proposals that would have posed problems for Berlusconi," D'Alimonte told AFP. "Now (President Giorgio) Napolitano has no other choice but to announce the dissolution of parliament."
Marini, known for his negotiating skills, had launched the marathon talks on Thursday, tasked with trying to cobble together support for a transitional administration following the collapse of Prime Minister Romano Prodi's centre-left government on January 24.
Earlier Monday, Gianfranco Fini, the head of the National Alliance, the second largest formation on the right, also called for speedy elections. "We repeated to Speaker Marini that for NA, the conditions do not exist" for setting up an interim government, he said.
The centre-left, in disarray after Prodi's demise was caused by the defection of a tiny party near the centre, has naturally been advocating electoral reforms. Under current law, voting is entirely by proportional representation, and the April 2006 elections saw 22 parties win seats in parliament, with most of the tiniest on the left, resulting in Prodi's unstable coalition.
On Saturday trade unions and employers joined calls for changing the system. Marini said he would have "all elements in hand" by Monday night to report to Napolitano.
After his talks with Berlusconi and Fini, Marini met Walter Veltroni, the popular head of the newly formed centre-left Democratic Party, the largest force on the left.
Veltroni told reporters he had repeated his call for a three-month transition government - "three months, not 30 years," he said - that would shepherd a new electoral law through parliament. "In a modern democracy the rules are written together," he said. Marini was to consult finally with former presidents Francesco Cossiga, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and Carlo Azeglio Ciampi before announcing his decision.
Most voters themselves are opposed to new polls under the current voting system, a recent survey found. More than 800,000 people, well above the necessary threshold of half a million, signed a petition for a popular referendum on electoral reform last year.
The constitutional court last month gave the go-ahead for the plebiscite, which must be held by June 15 - unless lawmakers manage to fix the system themselves first. The current electoral law, pushed through parliament by Berlusconi's right-wing government in 2005, was designed to limit the extent of the centre-right's eventual defeat in 2006.
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