Opinion - News Analysis   

Italy’s big turn to the Right

— PHOTO: AFP

Comfortably in: Can Silvio Berlusconi’s leadership solve Italy’s pressing problems?

By scoring a stunning victory in the general elections held on Sunday and Monday, Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s right-wing leader who is also the country’s richest man, has certainly ensured political stability for the five years to come. But is he the person whose leadership could solve the country’s pressing problems?

Italian voters certainly seemed to think so, because they gave his Party for Peoples’ Freedom a comfortable majority not just in the lower house but also in the Senate, considered to be a more difficult proposition because of the complicated system of regional voting for that body. Under Italian law a Prime Minister must have a majority in both houses in order to govern.

According to the latest figures, which are yet to be confirmed, Mr. Berlusconi’s “Freedom” bloc will end up with 163 seats in the 315-seat Senate as against 141 for his main rival Walter Veltroni of the newly formed Democratic Party. In the Chamber of Deputies or lower house, too, Mr. Berlusconi’s four-party alliance was set to win a comfortable majority.

One of the major pointers to emerge from these elections is the crushing defeat suffered by the Left and far Left parties. It was evident from the start of the campaign that voters were disenchanted with the fractious left-wing coalition that took them on a disastrously bumpy ride for two years. Mr. Prodi’s government which fell last January did manage to cut back on the country’s massive national debt by raising taxes and cutting back on large construction projects. Mr. Walter Vetroni, the 52-year-old former Mayor of Rome, who launched his Democratic Party and decided to ditch his leftist fellow travellers, obviously failed to convince voters. They seemingly continued to see this former Communist as a “leftie.”

These elections ushered in another change: more than eight in 10 voters backed one or the other of the two biggest blocs — Mr. Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PDL) and Mr. Veltroni’s Democratic Party (PD). The usual fragmentation of votes between a myriad of small political formations did not take place and the vote was divided between two large blocs, one to the Right, the other to the centre-left. Small right-wing parties too failed to do well. This marks a major re-drawing of Italy’s political map.

“These elections revolutionise the national political geography, marking a decisive step forward by Italy” towards political streamlining and institutional modernisation, said journalist Claudio Monici. While the Left leaning La Stampa credited the new-look Parliament “exclusively to Walter Veltroni and his decision to break up the centre-left coalition and run alone (or almost).”

Several figures who have dominated the country’s political landscape for decades have suddenly been vanquished. These include the outgoing Speaker of the lower house, Fausto Bertinotti, the Communist leader who resigned on Monday after a dismal showing by the far left. Other casualties included Italian Communist Party leader Oliviero Diliberto and Green chief Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, who was Romano Prodi’s Environment Minister.

The far-right lost the controversial self-described fascist Daniela Santanche, the flag-bearer of La Destra (The Right) who wanted to become Italy’s first woman Prime Minister, and also the party secretary Francesco Storace. And, as expected, the tiny centrist UDEUR party of Clemente Mastella — the outgoing Justice Minister whose defection brought down the Prodi government in January — failed to win a seat.

“The guillotine has claimed many heads,” wrote Corriere della Sera.

The PDL and the DP each has an ally in the assembly — the populist right-wing Northern League and the small centre-left Italy of Values respectively — while the middle ground will be occupied by the centrist Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC).

This election victory however leaves Mr. Berlusconi no wiggle room. His past performance as Prime Minister was less than satisfactory but Mr. Berlusconi could lay his failures at the door of Italy’s unstable coalition politics. “This time the centre-right won’t have an alibi... and knows it. The problem is to legitimise the new leadership with serious and incisive measures,” wrote the analyst Massimo Franco in Corriere della Sera.

“Flush with victory, the Berlusconi camp should be aware that not only the electorate but the entire international community is watching an Italy that has returned Mr. Berlusconi to power with a mixture of scepticism, alarm and expectation,” commented La Repubblica.

Italy’s economic performance has been poor — the country is regularly described as the sick man of Europe — and the average Italian is afraid for his job, his pensions and his future. There are also huge tensions between the rich north and the poor, mafia-dominated south. Mr. Berlusconi has promised to cut taxes and increase public spending. Many call it a sure-fire recipe for further disaster. Italians obviously think otherwise.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Going beyond the lament
Berlusconi again
Triumph of the new mainstream in Nepal
Italy’s big turn to the Right
Taming or rousing the Russian bear?
North Korea optimistic, U.S. cagey over security dialogue
Corrections and clarifications
Nepal verdict
Reservation debate
Kidney transplant

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu