A new election campaign is on in Italy. The Berlusconi billboard above, just outside the place we live, says "The Left Has Put the Country on its Knees: Rise Up, Italy." Two years after the last election, the centre-left government led by Romano Prodi lost the support of a tiny coalition partner and it could no longer sustain a majority. So a new election has been called.
Italian politics is complicated. And the parties are changing. For example, the new Democratic Party was formed from a merging of the old "Sinistra Democractica" which evolved from the old Communist Party, and the "Margherita" Party which was a centrist Catholic party. It promises to stabilize Italian politics, but the party seems very "Blairist." On the other hand, Berlusconi and his right-wing coalition is ahead in the polls.
We don't pretend to know much. But it's interesting being here during it all. For more information, try the following websites:
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1 comment:
Larry
Italian politics is not that hard to understand - it is like having one big undending rounds of family fights where no oen actually really gets to govern for too long - at the center of it all is the familia - decisions as to whom to support in an election are a matter of family - Emelia Romagna where you are has voted Communist almost since Italy was founded as a modern state - in the North there they are real capitalist small businesses - before I forget you should go and visit Ferraro it is just 50K north of you an hr by train....there is an interesting but very small Jewish Synagogue there.....Eamon
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