(ANSA) - Premier Silvio Berlusconi sought to shore up his leadership of the governing coalition on Tuesday by getting tough with rebellious allies.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a political conference here, Berlusconi said that "one of these days I'll explode and tell them either you're with me or you're out."
"I'm the only one capable of keeping the entire coalition united," said the centre-right leader, who plans to stand for re-election next year.
Berlusconi is expected to face off against opposition chief Romano Prodi, who defeated the billionaire media magnate in the 1996 general elections but was toppled some two years later by a coalition ally.
With the premier trailing in opinion polls, some believe a leadership change would inject fresh energy into the conservative alliance and boost its chances of victory.
Two parties have raised the issue: the rightist National Alliance (AN) headed by Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini, and the centrist, Catholic UDC led by Marco Follini. Fini, whose party is the second biggest in the coalition, said in a press interview earlier this month that "Berlusconi is the head of the party with the most votes but that doesn't necessarily mean that he should be the leader."
Agriculture Minister and AN heavyweight Giovanni Alemanno even suggested following the opposition's example of holding US-style primaries to decide the leadership. Follini's party, which has also called for primaries, has been increasingly at odds with the premier and another government party, the devolutionist Northern League.
The UDC has threatened to withdraw from the coalition unless it gets its way over reforms to the electoral system to make it more proportional.
Berlusconi, who has been in the driving seat since May 2001, warned on Tuesday that coalition infighting risked alienating voters. "Our voters accept everything except fighting amongst
ourselves," said the premier, who said unity was the real key to winning the spring elections.
Berlusconi has sought to appease the UDC with a plan to make Italy's voting system entirely proportional. The current system allocates 25% of parliamentary seats by proportional representation and the rest with a first-past-the-post system based on constituencies.
The centre left is hotly opposed to any changes. It has accused the government of attempting electoral fraud with reforms so close to the elections and a clause requiring parties to obtain at least 4% of the national vote in order to gain representation.
Six centre-left parties are unlikely to pass the 4% mark and so their contribution to the opposition's overall tally would be lost, possibly handing victory to Berlusconi. The opposition has threatened to block all parliamentary activity in order to stop the new system being approved.
Berlusconi said he still favoured reforming the law and denied the opposition's accusations, saying: "A proportional reform would be an honest law. There is no fraud involved since we assumed small parties would band together." He also defended his government's economic record, saying that "the economy isn't doing as badly as the media and the opposition say it is."
He pledged to step up the fight against tax evasion and the black economy but argued that "optimism" was the only real recipe for improving the situation. Italy is struggling with stagnant growth, stalled consumer spending, a soaring cost of living and deteriorating public accounts.
But Berlusconi said his government had done everything it could to lift the economy. He put part of the blame on the euro and the "crazy lira-euro rate decided by Prodi". "It's not our fault that the previous government wanted the euro," he said.
The premier also denied his coalition had fallen behind in opinion polls, citing "reliable" surveys which put the two rival coalitions neck-and-neck at 48.3%. He said he was confident he would win the 2006 elections by an "ample margin".
The La Repubblica daily published opinion polls on Tuesday which put the opposition nine points ahead of the centre right. The left-wing daily said more than 1,500 Italians over the age of 18 had been polled on September 13-15 by research institute Eurisko.
The results put the centre-left coalition ahead with 50.8% compared to 43.2% for the centre right.
Support for Berlusconi's Forza Italia party was down from almost 30% at the last general election to 18.3%. Political analysts believe that the opposition would be the winners even if the government's electoral reform bill was passed. They said that if the reforms were applied to the
results obtained from the poll, the opposition would still have a lead of 7.5%.
Respondents were also asked who they would like to see run in the next elections. More than 35% of centre-left voters said they backed Prodi as the challenger. His nearest rival was centrist opposition official Francesco Rutelli on 8.8%.
Among centre-right respondents, 34.1% said they wanted Berlusconi to head the coalition but a close 32% said they would prefer Fini. The poll also showed ratings for the government's
performance at an all-time low with only 27% expressing satisfaction compared to 40% at the start of the year. A whopping 86% of those surveyed said they were unhappy with the way things were going in Italy.
But a rival opinion poll published by Corriere della Sera, Italy's biggest daily, gave a less drastic picture for the centre right. Applying the government's proportional reform plan, the poll put the governing coalition just two points behind the opposition.
The governing coalition received a bashing in regional elections this year. In the April ballot, in which 42 million Italians were eligible to vote, the centre right lost all but two of 14 regional governments up for grabs in the 20-region nation. Berlusconi was forced to temporarily resign and re-form his government after AN and the UDC demanded a policy overhaul with more focus on the south, the economy and lower-income families.
