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Italian elections

 
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Sat 15 Apr, 2006 07:04 am
From the frontapage of the 'Corriere della Sera and page 3:
http://i2.tinypic.com/vhuj2w.jpghttp://i2.tinypic.com/vhulac.jpg
http://i2.tinypic.com/vhup06.jpg
Quote:
« NO ALLE PROVE DI FORZA CERCHIAMO SOLUZIONI NUOVE »

SILVIO BERLUSCONI

Aquesto punto, il senso di responsabilità impone una riflessione.

In linea generale sarebbero certamente preferibili un governo solido e una maggioranza solida, come nei cinque anni appena conclusi, che attuino il programma proposto agli elettori sotto il controllo rigoroso di una opposizione agguerrita e capace anche di dialogare sulle questioni di interesse nazionale. Ma quando, come oggi, stabilità di governo e di maggioranza sono incerte e fragili, sia numericamente sia politicamente, che cosa si fa?

Un bipolarismo, contrassegnato da una contrapposizione di valori e di programmi, ha determinato una straordinaria partecipazione al voto dei cittadini, tra le più alte in Europa, e ha dunque consolidato uno dei pilastri della democrazia liberale.

Sono emerse due visioni dell'Italia e del suo futuro.

Anche la distribuzione economica e sociale del voto, con la netta prevalenza della Casa delle libertà nelle zone industriali del Nord e nelle regioni più produttive del Centro e del Sud, pone un problema di grande rilevanza, aggravato dalle palesi contraddizioni di buona parte della coalizione di centrosinistra che contiene al suo interno un forte partito estremista, il "partito dei No", pari a oltre un terzo dei voti e dei seggi raccolti.

Non è dunque responsabile, come sta facendo Prodi dalla notte di lunedì, cercare testardamente una prova di forza, ignorare la realtà e mostrare disprezzo e spirito vendicativo verso metà del Paese e verso chi la rappresenta.

Occorrerebbe, al contrario, ragionare insieme intorno a soluzioni nuove, dettate dalle nuove circostanze, per il governo delle istituzioni e del Paese. Un'intesa parziale, limitata nel tempo, per affrontare le immediate scadenze istituzionali, economiche e internazionali del Paese, non dovrebbe essere esclusa per principio.

Nel caso in cui, invece, prevalesse una linea estremista, è evidente che, qualunque sia il responso definitivo delle autorità preposte al computo dei voti, Forza Italia e i suoi alleati condurranno una coerente e rigorosa battaglia in difesa dei valori e degli di interessi che ci sono stati affidati dal 50 per cento degli elettori. Sulla tassazione come strumento di redistribuzione della ricchezza, sulla flessibilità dei contratti di lavoro, la legge Biagi, sulla riforma della scuola, sulla riforma delle pensioni, è molto difficile che gli estremisti della sinistra riescano a far passare le loro posizioni. In tal modo infatti soffocherebbero sul nascere quella ripresa economica che sta decollando grazie a ciò che abbiamo fatto nel corso di questi anni. Ecco perché chi ha un minimo senso di responsabilità non può chiudersi a un confronto sereno tra le due metà del Paese.

Cordialmente.


I don't get much, but what he said has been published elsewhere in the news.

I copied/pasted this because I think ... well, you rarely find such attitude (I hope).
0 Replies
 
fbaezer
 
  1  
Reply Sat 15 Apr, 2006 02:05 pm
I wouldn't believe Berlusconi if he swore on his mother.
He's done this before, and lied.

On an aside, the map supplied by Walter is very interesting... tells a lot about changes occurred in the last two decades.
Sardinia, some of the South, and noticeably the Trentino-Alto Adige region has moved left. Much of Lombardy and Piedmont has moved right. I think the key factor on the shift is the Lega Nord.
0 Replies
 
nimh
 
  1  
Reply Sat 15 Apr, 2006 07:08 pm
This take makes a lot of sense, in explaining why Berlusconi's locked in this all-out battle against the results - I mean, beyond sheer machismo and a megalomaniacally distorted sense of reality. He's fighting to stay out of jail - one way or another.

He's hoping that either he will win this bluff, in the end - or at least he'll intimidate Prodi's government enough to cut a deal with him. If thats true, hold on to your seats for a while still.

Quote:
Berlusconi 'trying to do deal to avoid prosecution'

Silvio Berlusconi refused again yesterday to concede defeat to Romano Prodi's centre-left coalition in the Italian election, demanding the formation of a broad coalition in a letter that commentators said amounted to a request by the media mogul for immunity from prosecution.

"On the basis of the popular vote, there's no winner and no loser," Mr Berlusconi claimed in the letter to the Corriere della Sera. [..] He renewed an appeal to create a coalition government, "limited in time and aimed at dealing with the country's institutional, economic and international commitments".

[..] But this is not just a case of Mr Berlusconi being a bad loser, say pundits. During his five years in office he spent much of his time passing laws to avoid going to jail. Many commentators believe Italy's richest man wants to gain an informal pledge of immunity from judicial proceedings from Mr Prodi's government, in return for a guarantee that his Forza Italia party will not make political life unbearable for a fragile administration.

Mr Berlusconi's proposal in the Corriere was a plea for "a grand coalition to save himself", said Valentino Parlato, the veteran editor of the maverick left-wing Il Manifesto newspaper. Mr Parlato urged leftist voters to exercise "democratic vigilance" against the skulduggery he believes the centre-right may employ to try to snatch back victory. [..]
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Tue 18 Apr, 2006 12:13 pm
Quote:
Italy's Berlusconi To Appeal Vote Count To Highest Court


ROME (Mf-Dow Jones)--Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called on Italy's highest court Tuesday to make all the necessary checks to ensure an accurate vote count in a hotly contested April 9-10 election.

The count of contested ballots continued Tuesday, officials said.

The count is widely expected to confirm Romano Prodi's razor-thin victory after the Interior Ministry last week reduced the number of contested ballots to 5,200 from 80,000. The new figures are not enough for the premier's conservatives to reverse the electoral result.

(In the headline "*Italy's Berlusconi To Appeal Vote Count To Highest Court" published at 1655 GMT and the story "Italy's Berlusconi To Appeal Vote Count To Highest Court" published at 1700 GMT, incorrectly reported that Berlusconi aims to appeal the recount of votes.)

Berlusconi and his allies "call on Italy's highest court, the Corte di Cassazione, which is the supreme arbiter of a properly conducted vote, to display the fairness and accuracy that distinguishes it...and to carry out all necessary checks to guarantee that the outcome of the vote is clear beyond any reasonable doubt," according to a statement read by his spokesman.

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
04-18-061315ET

Source
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Apr, 2006 10:01 am
This afternoon, Italy's supreme court has confirmed Romano Prodi's victory over ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in last week's general election.
0 Replies
 
Ellinas
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Apr, 2006 12:57 pm
I can detect an anxiety. You don't need to worry, Berlusconi's complains are not going to change something.
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Apr, 2006 12:59 pm
Ellinas wrote:
I can detect an anxiety. You don't need to worry, Berlusconi's complains are not going to change something.


Addressing whom with that?
0 Replies
 
Ellinas
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Apr, 2006 01:01 pm
Most of you Smile.
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Wed 19 Apr, 2006 01:05 pm
Official statement by the Court of Cassation (in Italian).

The court certified the results after judges reviewed the validity of more than 5,000 provisional ballots, though the court's announcement was not unexpected as preliminary results [here (in Italian)] from the Italian Interior Ministry put Prodi ahead by as many as 24,000 votes.
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Fri 21 Apr, 2006 12:47 am
Quote:
Prodi to form govt despite Berlusconi stance

21 April 2006
The winner of last week's general election in Italy, Romano Prodi, has said he will continue the work of forming a new government despite the refusal of the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, to acknowledge defeat.

Mr Prodi described Mr Berlusconi's attitude as unfortunate, but not an obstacle.

On Wednesday, Italy's highest court confirmed the narrow victory of Mr Prodi's centre-left coalition.

Mr Berlusconi has still made no public comment on the court's ruling.
Source
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Fri 21 Apr, 2006 12:58 am
Let me express my delight at that.

Now then, ....................................
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Sat 22 Apr, 2006 09:08 am
Quote:
Outgoing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has acknowledged defeat with a song, instead of the customary phone call to the victor.

He has steadfastly refused formally to concede defeat in the election to his centre-left rival coalition leader Romano Prodi, despite official confirmation of Prodi's narrow victory by the supreme court on Wednesday.

But he sang the tune, which he helped write, to a meeting of his Forza Italia party yesterday, Italian media report.

"Let us go, leave everything behind, leave the newspapers, the TV the (political) parties, leave those who don't want me any more," he sang.

Mr Berlusconi said he and his songwriting partner Mariano Apicella, who accompanied him on guitar, had composed the song "the evening of the electoral defeat".

"At least we still have a profession," he joked, to applause from party supporters assembled in the north Italian city of Trieste at his first political appearance since the elections on April 9 and 10.
Full report
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Sat 22 Apr, 2006 09:41 am
Thanks!
0 Replies
 
littlek
 
  1  
Reply Sat 22 Apr, 2006 10:49 am
fbaezer wrote:
I wouldn't believe Berlusconi if he swore on his mother.
He's done this before, and lied.

On an aside, the map supplied by Walter is very interesting... tells a lot about changes occurred in the last two decades.
Sardinia, some of the South, and noticeably the Trentino-Alto Adige region has moved left. Much of Lombardy and Piedmont has moved right. I think the key factor on the shift is the Lega Nord.


My housemate from trentino and much of her familia voted left.
0 Replies
 
nimh
 
  1  
Reply Sat 22 Apr, 2006 05:38 pm
Walter Hinteler wrote:
Quote:
But he sang the tune, which he helped write, to a meeting of his Forza Italia party yesterday, Italian media report.

"Let us go, leave everything behind, leave the newspapers, the TV the (political) parties, leave those who don't want me any more," he sang.

Shades of Vladimir Meciar's farewell* ... another leader of incredible vanity, who shirked no method no matter how dubious to stay in power, and to whom the very notion that he could lose - or rather, that people would actually not want him anymore - not want HIM anymore! - was also so inconceivable, that the only way he could deal with it was through such over-the-top and rather resentful sentimentality. A way to wallow in self-pity, without actually having to consciously, deliberately, directly admit defeat (leaving open the door to continuing like nothing happened once the wallowing stage is over). Meciar, if I recall correctly, simply disappeared incommunicado for a while after the election results came in, only to then 'say goodbye' to the people - his people - by appearing on national TV to sing a song, waving goodbye at the end of it.


*Vladimir Meciar, the Slovak Prime Minister for most of the nineties
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Sun 23 Apr, 2006 06:53 am
Just bumped into a lovely quote from Mussolini. It speaks to the "mercurial" nature of the Italian population/electorate. He said, "I am the most disobeyed dictator in history."
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Apr, 2006 05:31 pm
Beelzebub Spoils Prodi's Day

Start of the article -
Efforts to elect a Speaker descended into farce as the Right used every trick to achieve a stalemate

THREE weeks after Romani Prodi won a razor-edge election majority, he yesterday appeared narrowly to win a crucial vote in the Senate, putting him on course to form the next Italian Government.
But amid scenes of confusion the Centre Right immediately contested the result because of errors in ballot papers, and the vote was declared null and void and retaken.

The chaos underlined the narrowness of Signor Prodi's majority and reinforced fears of instability in Italy at a time when measures to revive the economy are vital.

The turmoil followed an eleventh-hour attempt by Silvio Berlusconi, the outgoing Prime Minister, to prevent the Centre Left from taking power. Signor Berlusconi put up Giulio Andreotti, 87, the veteran former Prime Minister, to run against Signor Prodi's candidate, Franco Marini, a former union leader.

end quote



Andreotti!!! Good Grief!!!
0 Replies
 
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Apr, 2006 05:36 pm
For anyone interested, I found this book fascinating -

Peter Robb's Midnight in Sicily
It explores various matters in regard to the then ongoing Andreotti prosecution.
0 Replies
 
fbaezer
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Apr, 2006 10:14 pm
Andreotti... hmmm... old monsters don't die easy.
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Fri 28 Apr, 2006 11:22 pm
And now it goes on ... or it starts again ...

Blow for Prodi as candidate's victory in Senate presidency poll is annulled

Quote:
The slimness of the apparent margin of victory, and the fact that it took two rounds to achieve, is reason enough to give Mr Prodi's supporters concern for the stability of his government, and Mr Berlusconi and the centre-right new reason to believe that their time in opposition may not be long.
0 Replies
 
 

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