PRESIDENT Oscar Luigi Scalfaro of Italy last night formally dissolved parliament, thus paving the way for a general election likely to be held on April 21st the President Areas left with nonrealistic alternative to an early election, following the failure this week of bureaucrat, Mr Antonio Maccanico, to put together a broad based coalition government intended to introduce a series of constitutional reforms.
In essence, the election that President Scalfaro called last night has been on standby since December 1994 when the seven month government of media tycoon, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, was brought down by the withdrawal of the Northern League from his fragile centre right coalition, the major victors in the March 1994 general election.
Rather than call an election in January last year. President Scalfaro asked former banker, Mr Lamberto Dini, to head an interim "technocrat" government. Mr Dini, in turn, resigned last month when he failed to command a parliamentary majority thus prompting the President to turn to Mr Maccanico in the unlikely hope that his negotiating skills might enable him to form a broad based coalition government.
Mr Dini, the acting Prime Minister, remains in office in an ill defined caretaker capacity at least until early May when the new parliament convenes. Given the high probability that the formation of the next government, Italy's 55th of the post war era, may prove a long drawn out business, Mr Dini may well remain in office until June thus enabling him to see out Italy's term of EU presidency.
Contradictory opinion polls released this week by daily, Il Resto Del Carlino and weekly, Panorama, suggest that the forthcoming electoral contest will be very close, with the daily predicting a centre right victory and the weekly a centre left victory. Both polls indicate that Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party will finish third best behind ex communist Democratic Left (PDS), the dominant force in the centre left "Olive" coalition, and behind ex fascist Alleanza Nazionale, the senior partner with Forza Italia in the centre right coalition.
Unofficially, the electoral contest is already well under way a point underlined by the strenuous objections voiced this week by the right in response to media reports that Mr Dini might opt to stand as a centre left candidate in a Florence constituency. Both Mr Berlusconi and Alleanza Nazionale leader, Mr Gianfranco Fini, argue that if Mr Dini wishes to run for the left, then he should resign as Prime Minister since he was appointed to that office precisely because of his non party alignment.
The forthcoming election, Italy's 13th of the post war era, will be run on a 75 per cent majority vote, 25 per cent proportional representation system first used at the 1994 election, but subsequently much criticised for having produced a chronically fragmented parliament very similar to its predecessors.