ROME — The second-shortest-lived Parliament in Italy’s postwar history was sent packing Wednesday, and Italians will return to the ballot box in April for an election that could propel conservative Silvio Berlusconi back to power.
President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved Parliament more than three years before the end of its five-year term. Napolitano indicated he made the decision reluctantly but saw no way to keep the legislature afloat following the collapse of Premier Romano Prodi’s center-left government last month.
Prodi was doomed by defections of tiny parties that he counted on to give his ideologically varied coalition a parliamentary majority following his narrow victory over Berlusconi in April 2006. He was forced to end his government after losing a confidence vote.
The April 13-14 election will be held under the same laws that have been blamed for Italy’s political instability by giving small parties disproportional leverage.
Berlusconi and his conservative allies thwarted Napolitano’s last-ditch push for an interim government that would change the rules.
With opinion polls giving him a lead of up to 10 points, Berlusconi has boasted he expects such a large victory that he will not have to rely much on small parties and stability will be guaranteed. If he wins, it would be his third term.
But political analysts have warned that holding the spring vote under the old rules may only bring a fresh dose of turmoil.
Prodi, who will stay on as caretaker premier until the elections, ruled out running.
