Results of the European parliamentary elections on Monday showed Italians remaining broadly supportive of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right government, despite controversy over the prime minister’s colourful and high-spending life-style, and allegations of corruption made by Milan judges.
But aides expressed disappointment that the media tycoon’s People of Liberty party saw its share of the vote slip to 35.2 per cent from 37.4 per cent in general elections a year ago. Mr Berlusconi had expressed confidence his party would score up to 45 per cent and opinion polls two weeks before the vote had given him 40 per cent.
A sense of setback was tempered, however, by the sharp drop in support for the opposition centre-left Democratic party, led by Dario Franceschini, which took 26.2 per cent against 33.2 per cent a year ago.
Demonstrating the fragility of Italy’s shift towards a more bipolar political system a year ago, the main gainers from these elections were two smaller parties - Antonio Di Pietro’s opposition Italy of Values party, which nearly doubled its vote to 7.9 per cent, and Umberto Bossi’s right-wing Northern League which increased its share to 10.2 per cent from 8.2 per cent on a tough anti-immigration platform.
Mr Di Pietro, a former anti-corruption magistrate, is the most outspoken critic of Mr Berlusconi in parliament, demanding his resignation last month after a panel of judges in Milan accused him of corruption in a case dating back to the 1990s. Mr Berlusconi has immunity from prosecution given by parliament last year.
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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e4c844f6-5429-11de-a58d-00144feabdc0.html
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