Italian elections

Berlusconi's right-wing government has consistently taken a hard-line stance on immigrants. With the restrictive Bossi-Fini immigration law, approved in 2002, the government introduced a tough policy that only allowed foreign workers with existing job contracts to obtain a residency permit.

The 2002 law imposed an annual quota on foreign workers and allows the expulsion of undocumented people. According to the law, employers have to hire labourers directly from their countries of origin. But many of them are already in Italy, and cannot afford to return home to get official entry visas.

The current government has refused to consider welcoming foreign-born workers as a solution to Italy's demographic decline. The situation is further complicated by the high unemployment rate here -- only 57 percent of people aged 15-64 have jobs, the smallest proportion in Western Europe.

While Prodi said the country cannot do without foreigners in a speech last month, Berlusconi personally spoke out against immigration: "I do not want Italy to become a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural country".

Interior Minister Raffaele Pisanu recently said: "Our policies may seem cruel, but they will convince many people not to undertake a dangerous trip to European soil".

The centre-left opposition has put forth a number of foreign-born candidates in the general election, while parties in the conservative government coalition have not confirmed the presence of any foreign-born candidates in their lists.

One of the most hotly debated issues between the coalitions is immigrants' right to vote. As things now stand, they cannot vote in general elections, but they do have representatives on the city councils, who participate actively even if they cannot cast votes.

Such representatives plead for state-subsidised Italian language courses, better health care coverage, legislation making it easier to acquire Italian citizenship and housing, and a comprehensive law on political asylum.

Senate President Marcello Pera (Forza Italia) says, "We need to integrate first, and grant voting rights to those who have already fitted in by learning Italian and respecting our principles."

Silvio Berlusconi has been out of power for only a fortnight, but suddenly he looks vulnerable. Already his continued leadership of the centre-right is being questioned; next week his name will once again be dragged through the courts in the company of that of David Mills on charges of bribery and corruption.

Yesterday, his ownership of Milan, his beloved Serie A football team, began to look troublesome after a lawyer claimed in an interview that Italy's football scandal could be traced back to the rossoneri, (red and blacks) as Mr Berlusconi's side is known.

[...]

Instead, the elections gave a nasty jolt to Mr Berlusconi, leaving the centre-left with increased majorities in major cities and only Milan, his stronghold, still in his hands. The sun is setting on the Berlusconi era, according to the commentator Massimo Franco: "With the regional elections even the illusion of the ex-premier as a formidable vote-catcher has dissolved... Berlusconi seems to be stuck in a blind alley."

Even the right-wing press is in open revolt, predicting fearfully that the "House of Liberties" (as Mr Berlusconi's coalition is known) is on the verge of exploding into a "Bordello of Liberties".

[...]

Berlusconi faces inquiry into claims he tried to rig election

By Peter Popham in Rome
Published: 24 November 2006

Prosecutors in Rome have launched an investigation into claims that Silvio Berlusconi tried to electronically rig Italy's April general election. The claims are contained in an investigative report released today in video form with a weekly political review, Il Diario.

The election marked the first time that electronic voting machines were used in Italy, not to do the initial counting but to collate results arrived at by manual counting at the different polling stations.

The vote was extraordinarily close, and it was not until late in the morning of the day after the election that the centre-left announced that it had secured enough seats in both houses to form a government. Mr Berlusconi refused to recognise the victory, and claimed that the election had been stolen by the opposition's skulduggery.

The film claims there probably was skulduggery, but that it was all on Mr Berlusconi's side: after all, as the editor of Il Diario, Enrico Deaglio, points out, Mr Berlusconi and his allies were in control of the Interior Ministry, which polices the elections.

The thesis of the film is that, thanks to software surreptitiously installed in the central computers, spoiled ballots were transferred to Berlusconi's party, Forza Italia. But Interior Minister Beppe Pisanu, a trusted former Christian Democrat, learned of the attempted fraud and vetoed it.

Prosecutors in Rome have launched an investigation into claims that Silvio Berlusconi tried to electronically rig Italy's April general election. The claims are contained in an investigative report released today in video form with a weekly political review, Il Diario.

The election marked the first time that electronic voting machines were used in Italy, not to do the initial counting but to collate results arrived at by manual counting at the different polling stations.

The vote was extraordinarily close, and it was not until late in the morning of the day after the election that the centre-left announced that it had secured enough seats in both houses to form a government. Mr Berlusconi refused to recognise the victory, and claimed that the election had been stolen by the opposition's skulduggery.
The film claims there probably was skulduggery, but that it was all on Mr Berlusconi's side: after all, as the editor of Il Diario, Enrico Deaglio, points out, Mr Berlusconi and his allies were in control of the Interior Ministry, which polices the elections.

The thesis of the film is that, thanks to software surreptitiously installed in the central computers, spoiled ballots were transferred to Berlusconi's party, Forza Italia. But Interior Minister Beppe Pisanu, a trusted former Christian Democrat, learned of the attempted fraud and vetoed it.

Beppe Grillo: The new clown prince of Italy
The Independent
18 September 2007

A funny thing just happened in Italian politics: Beppe Grillo, comedian, troublemaker and arch-enemy of the Establishment, is now seen by half the electorate as a viable candidate for the presidency. On 8 September, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in rallies on the "F-Off Day" he proclaimed. Peter Popham reports on a joke that could be getting out of hand.