INDEPTH: ITALY
The Italian election: Hopelessly split?
CBC News Online | May 12, 2006
Think minority government is a delicate balancing act in Ottawa? In Rome, it's a fine art – and a fact of life. Since the end of the Second World War, no single party has won enough seats to control the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate, the two houses that make up the Italian parliament.
 Centre-left coalition leader Romano Prodi claims victory in the Italian election. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
In the Senate, more than 24 hours after the polls closed, it appeared Prodi's coalition would eke out a slim majority – thanks mainly to the votes of Italians living overseas, who were given the vote for the first time.
Berlusconi's officials said the number of spoiled ballots was higher than the margin of victory. They said they would demand a recount.
It wasn't until May 2, 2006 that Berlusconi threw in the towel, accepted defeat and resigned as prime minister. That was almost two weeks after Italy's top court confirmed Prodi as the winner.
About 50 million people were eligible to vote, including 2.5 million Italians living abroad. Among them were about 100,000 Canadians. Election officials say more than 83 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot. That's about two percentage points higher than the 2001 election.
On May 10, 2006, Giorgio Napolitano was elected president of Italy, defeating incumbent Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. Napolitano, an 80-year-old former Communist, will play a key role forming the Italian government. He will officially name the new prime minister after conferring with party leaders.
How is Italy's electoral system set up?
The chamber of deputies, which is the lower house of parliament, has 630 seats. The senate, which is the upper house, has 315 seats.
Eighteen seats – 12 in the chamber and six in the senate – have been set aside to represent Italians living abroad. Those 18 seats will be divided among four geographical areas:
- North and Central America (3)
- Europe (9)
- South America (5)
- Australia (1)
Voters do not cast their ballots for candidates – they are handed lists of parties and coalitions for each house. Parties and coalitions that achieve certain minimum levels of support get to send candidates on their list to the chamber and the house. For instance, a coalition needs at least 10 per cent of the vote to win seats in the chamber.
Candidates at the top of a list have a better chance of being allocated a seat than candidates who are further down party or coalition lists.
Is Italy now facing political instability?
In politics, stability is relative – and in Italy "relative" gets a lot of leeway.
National elections in Italy are normally held every five years, although the president can ask the prime minister to move up the date. No Italian parliament has lasted the full five years since 1945, although several have come pretty close.
"We can govern for five years," Prodi told reporters on April 11, the day after the election results were released, while still waiting for a phone call from Berlusconi conceding defeat. "My government will be politically and technically strong."
Berlusconi's government approved changes to the electoral system in December 2005, after the election date had been set. Those changes returned the country to a system of full proportional representation – a system many blamed for the country's history of short-lived post-war governments.
The system that had been in place since 1994 – a period characterized by relatively stable governments – awarded three-quarters of the seats in both houses in first-past-the-post contests (the party with the most votes won) and one-quarter of the seats by proportional representation (parties with a certain level of support are awarded seats).
Because of the change, Prodi's coalition was allotted 341 of the lower house's 630 seats – despite a margin of victory of less than one-tenth of one per cent. Berlusconi's coalition was awarded 277 seats. Prodi's coalition took 11 of the 18 seats in the two houses set aside for Italians living abroad.
Former president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi issued a statement praising the "orderly and correct" voting process. France and Luxembourg were the first countries to congratulate Prodi.
What happens next?
In mid-May, senate, lower house and regional representatives met to vote for the Italian president. Giorgio Napolitano, an 80-year-old former Communist, was elected president of Italy on May 10, 2006. The term of the former president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, expires on May 18.
In the coming days, Napolitano will consult with the parties on the formation of the new government. The president officially names the new prime minister after conferring with the party leaders.
The prime minister and his government must win a confidence vote in parliament 10 days after being sworn in by the president.
That leaves a fair bit of time for negotiations between parties and coalitions – and for politicians to ponder how to best serve their constituents.
 Silvio Berlusconi (AP file photo)
Two men were vying for the job of prime minister. Berlusconi – Italy's wealthiest person – sought a second consecutive term. He leads Forza Italia, a party he founded in 1993 – a year before he first became prime minister. Forza Italia is the largest party in the centre-right coalition Casa delle Liberta. The man who served as Berlusconi's deputy prime minister, Gianfranco Fini, leads the coalition's second-largest party, Alleanza Nazionale.
The challenger, Prodi, leads the centre-left coalition – L'Unione. Prodi does not lead a party, but was chosen in an American-style primary in October 2005 as the candidate to lead the coalition. Prodi is also a former prime minister – he beat Berlusconi in the 1996 election. Prodi is also a former president of the European Commission.
The two men are as different in their personal styles as they are in their politics. Berlusconi is brash and outspoken. Five days before the election, he labelled centre-left voters as coglioni. The Italian word is slang for "testicles" but is commonly used as a vulgar insult to describe someone as a fool or moron.
Berlusconi has also been accused of manipulating the media for his own ends. He owns the largest private television stations in the country and – as prime minister – appoints those who run the public networks. His broadcasting company was fined three times in three weeks during the campaign for giving too much air time to Berlusconi and not enough to Prodi, who is said to be not too keen on making TV appearances.
Among the candidates vying to represent Italians living abroad was Gino Bucchino, a doctor who moved to Canada in 1988. The Toronto man won a seat in the Chamber of Deputies for a party in Prodi's coalition.
Alfonso Gagliano – who was Canada's public works minister under the government of former prime minister Jean Chrétien and then became ambassador to Denmark – mused about using the Italian election to re-enter politics, but decided against running.
What were the main issues in the campaign?
The economy: Berlusconi had promised to bring Italy economic growth, but the economy has expanded by an average of only 0.8 per cent a year since he assumed office in 2001. Youth unemployment remains high and the country's budget deficit is bigger than what's allowed under European Union regulations. Berlusconi promised to end property tax – as time was running out in the final televised debate of the election campaign.
Prodi promised to cut labour costs, reduce the deficit and get a handle on Italy's bloated bureaucracy.
Foreign policy: Berlusconi is seen as U.S. President George W. Bush's biggest cheerleader in continental Europe. His support of the U.S.-led war in Iraq has been highly unpopular. He promised to withdraw all of Italy's troops from Iraq by the end of 2006.
Prodi promised to pull out all troops as soon as is reasonably feasible – probably by the end of 2006.
Berlusconi has been dogged by allegations of corruption, bribery and tax evasion – all related to his business interests. His personal popularity sagged during his term in office.
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Population: 58,000,000
Labour force: 24.5 million
Unemployment rate: 7.9 per cent (20 per cent in the mainly agricultural south)
Economic growth: 0 per cent (2005)
Inflation rate: 1.9 per cent (2005)
Public debt: 107.3 per cent of GDP (2005)
(Source: CIA World Factbook)
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