ITALY:ITALY'S FORTHCOMING general election, scheduled for April 13th and 14th, may yet be postponed on a technicality. A council of state ruling this week has re-admitted a tiny ex-Christian Democrat (DC) party initially excluded from the elections because its symbol too closely resembled that of another ex-DC party, the Unione di Centro (UDC).
Given that Italy's election legislation allows for 30 days of campaigning, the re-admitted DC party has now called for a postponement.
Speaking in Reggio Emilia yesterday, interior minister Giuliano Amato admitted the situation is somewhat confused, saying: "Right now, I cannot rule out the possibility that the elections will be postponed. We received formal communication this morning of a precautionary ruling, which could still be overturned, about the re-admission of a party symbol and thus the presentation of a party list. This is a situation not covered by election law."
Led by Giuseppe Pizza, DC is one of several centre-ground parties which have laid claim to the pre-1992 tradition of the Christian Democrat party, the party which dominated the first 45 years of postwar Italian politics.
Allied to the centre left during the legislature led by Romano Prodi, whose government fell at the end of January, the DC has since switched its allegiance to the centre-right PDL coalition led by media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi. If re-admitted to the electoral contest, the DC is expected to win only a tiny handful of seats, if any at all.
In a row of truly opera buffo dimensions, the current DC party argues that it and it alone has the right to use the celebrated shield-and-cross symbol, used by the pre-1992 DC. However, a similar symbol is being used by the UDC, a party led by former lower house speaker Pier Ferdinando Casini and one expected to poll 5 to 7 per cent of the national vote. Formerly allied to Mr Berlusconi, the UDC is this time running alone.
Not surprisingly, the threat of a postponement prompted a negative reaction from most party leaders. Mr Berlusconi called any potential delay a "waste of time" for Italians and called on the DC to show a sense of responsibility and waive its legal right to extra campaign days.
Leading centre-left candidate Walter Veltroni, head of the Democratic Party, said: "I am totally against any postponement of the elections. This is a problem opened up by the right and the right should resolve it."