ITALY: Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi entertains, encourages supporters at Rome rally

Record ID: 213866

  • Title: ITALY: Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi entertains, encourages supporters at Rome rally
  • Date: 7th February 2013
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (FEBRUARY 7, 2013) (REUTERS) SUPPORTERS AT PEOPLE OF FREEDOM (PDL) PARTY RALLY WAVING FLAGS FORMER ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER SILVIO BERLUSCONI ARRIVING SUPPORTER TAKING PHOTO WITH IPAD VARIOUS OF BERLUSCONI ON STAGE SMILING AS ITALIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM IS PLAYED BERLUSCONI SINGING TO NATIONAL ANTHEM
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAB28E0L1S2SG3170VYOPXZTBTO
  • Story Text: Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was in his element on Thursday (February 7) as he egged on followers at a party rally in Rome.
    With just a few weeks to go before the national election, Berlusconi used his trademark sense of humour and confidence to encourage supporters of his People of Freedom Party (PDL).
    He began his speeches by making a joke about his party secretary Angelino Alfano - the man Berlusconi suggested could lead the goverment should a centre right alliance of the PdL and the more right wing Northern League win the election.
    Hinting that he is ready to hand the reigns to Alfano as his arduous campaigning draws to an end, Berlusconi jokingly hid behind the podium.
    "I got the urge of doing a thing, which is, to go like this (DISAPPEARS BEHIND PODIUM) and to say; 'Angelino (Alfano), now it's your turn," he said.
    Most opinion polls indicate a centre-left coalition, headed by Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani, will win the Feb. 24-25 vote.
    The gap between the centre left and the centre right has, however, been narrowing steadily since Berlusconi returned to active politics the resurgent former premier threatens to spoil an election victory that once seemed assured.
    Berlusconi's mix of German-bashing rhetoric and promises to scrap the hated IMU housing tax is causing growing alarm on the centre-left, which has seen its impregnable-seeming opinion poll lead chipped away.
    Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani has given increasingly explicit signals that he is interested in joining forces with outgoing premier Mario Monti against Berlusconi, who has attacked both with equal vigour on his near-daily television and radio appearances.
    At the Rome rally, Berlusconi said his own internal polls showed his centre-right alliance with the pro-devolution Northern League party was just 1,7 percentage points behind the centre-left and he repeated he was confident of winning.
    Most other polls make the difference greater, with a survey on Tuesday (February 5) from the SWP institute seeing a gap of 5.6 points, but all agree the divide has narrowed since the start of the year.
    "The People of Freedom Party has gone up from 14 percent to 23,1 percent," Berlusconi told supporters.
    "This is an extraordinary comeback. Now we have just under three weeks to go, and keeping the speed with which we've achieved this comeback, we now need to switch to the fast lane and overtake them," he added.
    Barring an extraordinary surprise, Bersani is still the favourite to win the lower house and become prime minister but the race for the Senate, based on individual battles in each of the 20 regions, is more complicated.
    "And after a while you can hear Bersani barking, going 'Berlusconi has said another one of his...' no, actually he does it in dialect, 'Berlusconi has come up with yet more of his bullshit'," Berlusconi mocked his opponent, faking Bersani's accent.
    Undermined by a lurid sex scandal, Berlusconi, 76, was hounded out of power and replaced by technocrat Monti in November 2011, as Italy slid towards a Greek-style debt crisis.
    The billionaire media tycoon spent most of next year in the shadows but has launched an astonishing comeback since December to shrink the gap with the centre-left, although most pollsters think he still cannot win the election.
    "So, are you ready for this mission? Ideally I would tap your right shoulders with a sword, because the left, obviously, I couldn't and thus pronounce you all missionaries of democracy, truth and liberty. Go and convince the undecided. Go and convince those to whom you need to give some of your faith, some of your enthusiasm, a little bit of your passion. Thank you. Long live Italy, go Italy, long live the beautiful People of Freedom Party," Berlusconi told jubilant supporters.
    The resurgence of the master communicator, based on a blitz of television appearances and constant attacks on Monti's tax hikes, has raised the spectre of instability after the vote which is starting to worry investors.
    Berlusconi seems to be taking extra votes by reinvigorating some disillusioned centre-right voters, but the electorate remains volatile.
    Pietro Vento, head of Demopolis pollsters, estimated only about 60 percent of voters had made a final decision, leaving everything to play for in the final three weeks of the campaign.
    According to SWG, Berlusconi's strongest supporters are self employed workers or entrepreneurs, followed by housewives - despite allegations of sex parties with aspiring starlets which have emerged during his Milan trial for having sex with an under age prostitute.
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