Italy’s election. A man of his words

Date: 04/02/06

The Italian president ties the prime minister to an election date

THE politician's art is to say one thing and mean something different. Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, is a master. Before Christmas, he told a press conference that parliament would be dissolved on January 29th and an election held on April 9th. But he then upset the opposition and the president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, by hinting that the election might be delayed to May. Mr Ciampi, whose seven years in office end on May 13th, was not pleased. The next president can be chosen only after a new parliament is convened; with local elections and a referendum also on the calendar, there would have been election overload in May.

The face-off between president and prime minister has now ended with a terse statement from the president's office. Mr Berlusconi will hold a cabinet meeting next week to confirm the election on April 9th, "a date always considered by President Ciampi as fixed and non-postponable for well-known constitutional reasons". Mr Ciampi wanted Mr Berlusconi's commitment in writing to insure against any further misunderstandings.

Mr Berlusconi's eagerness to cling to office may owe something to his wish to put laws on the statute book that may help him off serious legal hooks. On January 20th, Mr Ciampi sent back to parliament a bill on appeal procedures. But as well as wanting more parliamentary time, Mr Berlusconi may also have hoped to exploit the period before parliament's dissolution for electoral reasons. Opinion polls show his ruling centre-right coalition lagging some five points behind the centre-left opposition--though the gap has narrowed.

Once the campaign officially begins, equal-time rules for television take effect. But until February 11th Mr Berlusconi can exploit both his gift of the gab and his control, direct or indirect, of as much as 85% of Italian television. And he has been doing so, popping into and monopolising all manner of programmes. This week he offered a new eye-catching trick, promising to abstain from sex until April 9th, then backtracking to say that he is indulging only moderately because of his workload.

One more sign that the campaign is under way is the switch of roadside advertisements from promoting mobile phones to pushing politicians. Here too Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and its allies dominate the pre-election landscape. But the hoarding of Italia dei Valori, a small opposition party led by a former anti-corruption magistrate, still stands out: "Legality, legality, legality. Antonio Di Pietro has made this his programme".

The hoarding may raise only wry smiles, but on January 28th Mr Di Pietro received a more useful boost from the head of Italy's anti-Mafia service, who urged parties not to put forward any candidates under investigation. Alas, he will be unheeded: as now, even some guilty of serious crimes may sit in parliament. Under electoral rules introduced by Mr Berlusconi's government, ballot papers show only the political parties, not candidates' names or criminal records.