The center-right People of Freedom Party (PDL) coalition headed by former premier Silvio Berlusconi has increased its lead over the Democratic Party (PD) of ex-Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, according to a new opinion poll.
Carried out by the SWG research group on March 6, the poll found that the PDL's lead over the PD was now 5.5-8 percentage points compared to 4-6 percentage points ten days ago.
The PDL, a merger between Berlusconi's Forza Italia party and the right-wing National Alliance (AN) of Gianfranco Fini, is allied with the Northern League in the north and the Christian Democrat MPA in the south and together they have between 43.5% and 44.5% of over support.
This was a marked improvement over the 42.5 to 43% they had on February 28.
The PDL alone saw its support rise from 34.5-36% to 36-37%, while the Northern League slipped from 6.5-7% to 6-6.5% and the MPA rose from 0.5-1% to 1-1.5%.
The PD, running with the Italy of Values (IDV) and hosting members of the Radical Party on its ticket, saw its popularity drop from 37-38.5% on February 28 to 36.5-38%.
Individually, the PD slipped from 33.5-34.5 ten days ago to 33.34% this week, while the IDV was stable at 3.5-4%.
The Left-Rainbow coalition of Communists and Greens, led by outgoing House Speaker Fausto Bertinotti, was unchanged at 7-7.5%. Former House speaker Pier Ferdinando's Union of Christian Democrats (UDC), which has joined forces with the Christian Democrats of the 'White Rose', saw its popularity slip from 7.5% to 6.5-7%.
The Right, an AN breakaway party, was stable at between 1-5% and 2% while the once powerful Socialist Party inched up from 0.5-0.7% to 0.5%-1%.
Among the other tiny parties, the Communist Workers Party (PDL) was unchanged at 0.5% and the pro-life party of journalist Giuliano Ferrara stood at 0.1-0.2%, compared to 0.1-0.3% ten days ago.
The SWG poll was carried out on a cross section of 1,600 eligible voters with a margin of error calculated at 2.4% either way.
Earlier this week, the IPR research group published a poll showing the PD-IDV at 36%, the PDL coalition at 43%, the UDC at 7%, The Left-Rainbow at 7.5% and The Right at 2.5%.
Italy's current electoral law sets a 4% threshold in the House and an 8% one in the Senate for parties to win seats. These thresholds drop respectively to 2% and 3% if the parties are part of a coalition.
