With elections six weeks away, Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right formation maintained a healthy advantage over its main centre-left rival in opinion polls released on Tuesday.
Two new independent polls both gave Berlusconi, who is aiming for his third term as Italian premier, a lead of around nine percentage points. A poll by the Euromedia agency put Berlusconi's share of the vote at 44-46% while the alliance led by former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni was seen at 36-38%.
A survey by Crespi Ricerche had the businessman-turned- politician at 44.3% and Veltroni at 35.5%.
The results of both polls were based on telephone interviews with a cross-section of 1,000 Italians. Euromedia's was carried out on February 22-23, Crespi's on February 25.
Berlusconi is standing for premier as the candidate of his new PDL (People of Liberty) party, which is supported by the regionalist Northern League and a Sicilian autonomy movement.
Veltroni is backed by his own Democratic Party (PD) and the small Italy of Values party headed by former anti-corruption prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro. Under an accord reached at the weekend, nine Radical party members will stand for election on the PD ticket. Polls released on Monday also confirmed Berlusconi's advantage, with the SWG institute putting it between five and eight percentage points.
A survey by the Demos-Eurisko institute published Monday in the left-wing La Repubblica daily said the difference between the two blocs appeared to be shrinking, citing a current difference of 5.7%.
A third survey released on Tuesday showed that Veltroni's PD party was far and away the most popular choice for gay voters.
