Opposition leader Romano Prodi and the heads of the two biggest parties in his centre-left coalition have come to a tense compromise on how the alliance will present itself at spring elections.
Prodi, who is also pushing for a Democratic party uniting much of the centre-left, on Monday urged the Democratic Left (DS) and the Margherita party to unite under an 'L' Ulivo' slate in elections for the Senate.
Centre-left party leaders have already agreed to a single slate for the House but, for technical reasons linked to a new electoral system, want the parties to run under their own symbols for the Senate. Keen to present voters with a clear show of unity on all fronts, Prodi met DS leader Piero Fassino and Margerita leader Francesco Rutelli late on Monday night and warned them that victory in the April 9 vote was at risk.
Rutelli and Fassino refused to give up their own symbols but agreed to put the Ulivo symbol next to their own on Senate voting slips.
They also agreed to merge the DS and Margherita groups in parliament on January 29. The move will be symbolic for now because on the same day parliament will be dissolved ahead of elections.
Prodi described these decisions later as "concrete points of progress" and also as moves from which there was "no turning back".
Some of Prodi's supporters were less satisfied, although they admitted that with elections so close the result was probably the best they could hope for. A big Olive Tree rally is scheduled for February 4 to launch the election campaign.
According to Italian newspapers, Prodi's efforts to achieve visible signs of unity in his coalition are driven by fears that recent events may have put at risk an election victory had seemed much more certain.
A recent bank takeover scandal has put a cloud over the DS's preparations for elections and an electoral reform pushed through by Silvio Berlusconi's government is also seen as making life harder for the centre left.
An opinion poll published in Corriere della Sera on Tuesday put the opposition still in the lead over Berlusconi's centre right.
Asked who they would vote for if elections were today, some 51% of the sample indicated a party in the centre left and 45% one on the centre right. According to this poll, little has changed compared to a month earlier.
