Senate speaker to seek support for electoral reform - President Giorgio Napolitano on Thursday asked Senate Speaker Franco Marini to see whether a government tasked with approving a new electoral law would have a majority in parliament.
Napolitano said he was reluctant to dissolve parliament less than two years after the last elections, especially when the two main political blocs had recently opened dialogue on possible changes to electoral rules.
The president's decision to avoid sending the country to the polls immediately came despite clear calls in this direction from centre-right parties, whose leaders he met during recent political consultations.
''I consider it my duty to give myself time to consider the situation adequately and to make a final judgment,'' Napolitano said.
The idea of a short-term institutional government to change the electoral law was supported by industrialists, small business associations and at least one union as well as by the Democratic Party, the biggest on the left.
Napolitano stressed that giving the Senate Speaker an exploratory mandate should not be seen as as an empty ''ritual'' or a ''delaying tactic''.
Marini accepted what he called a ''weighty task'', promising to work with ''determination'' and to report back to Napolitano as quickly as possible. He said he would start the new round of consultations on Thursday afternoon.
Should he fail to drum up support for an joint effort to hammer out an electoral reform, Napolitano will be forced to dissolve parliament and call snap elections.
The president's last-ditch effort was greeted with frustration by the parties in the centre right, who have a healthy advantage over the centre left in recent polls.
Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi, who is aiming to become premier for a third time, said he would tell Marini immediately that there was no need to change the electoral law and the nation should go straight to the polls.
Even UDC leader Pier Ferdinando Casini, who had appeared less resolute in calls for elections, said the scope for dialogue on reforms was ''very narrow''. Northern League leader Umberto Bossi said simply: ''Now it's time to abandon conjuring tricks''.
Apart from statements wishing Marini luck, there were few immediate reactions from the centre left, where calls for an interim government had been strongest.
Democratic Party leader Walter Veltroni, who coordinated the recent bid to forge an accord on reforms, said his party would ''denounce'' Berlusconi's ''lack of responsibility'' if the country voted without a new electoral law.
Some analysts in the Italian media said on Wednesday that any bid by Marini to seek support for a short-term, institutional government seemed doomed to failure.
''In a certain sense, Napolitano's initiative has the appearance of an obligatory act. A president who accepted an early close to the legislature, without even trying to prevent it, would be looked at with great surprise,'' said the Corriere della Sera daily.
