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.