Berlusconi would win new elections: Polls

ROME - Agence France-Presse

Former Italian President Silvio Berlusconi’s (C) center-right coalition would win if the current deadlock forces new elections in Italy, polls showed. DHA photo

Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right coalition would win if the current deadlock forces new elections in Italy, but would fail to get enough votes for an overall majority in Parliament, polls showed April 12.

A poll by the SWG Institute gave Berlusconi’s coalition 32.4 percent of the vote, compared to Pier Luigi Bersani’s center-left forces at 30.0 percent. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement would get 24.0 percent.

 The poll, based on 1,500 respondents and with a margin of error of 2.9 percent, indicated that support for the center-left and the Five Star Movement has ebbed since Feb. 24-25 elections while backing for Berlusconi has risen.

 Another poll by the Tecne Institute for news channel Sky TG 24 gave the center-right 33.3 percent and the center-left 31.4 percent. The Tecne poll showed that Berlusconi’s coalition would fall short of a majority in the Senate, the same problem that the center-left faces at the moment after winning in February but only by a razor-thin margin.

Berlusconi has urged arch-rival Bersani either to agree to a grand coalition between their two political forces or for new elections to be called. Bersani has so far ruled out a deal, which would be deeply unpopular among leftists.

In an interview published April 12, Berlusconi said he could support a candidate from the left in voting in Parliament that will start next week, but only on condition of a cross-party agreement.