The chances of Romano Prodi being able to form Italy’s next government hung by a thread on Friday night after two crucial votes in the new Parliament threw into stark relief the difficulties he and the centre-left face in passing laws.
Uproar engulfed the Upper House, the Senate, after a second-round vote for a speaker that appeared to confirm the centre-left majority was annulled on a technicality. Two of the votes were written out using an incorrect first name for the centre-left’s choice. A further vote was expected late on Friday night.
The turmoil was a foretaste of the problems that a Prodi government would have implementing its programme. Some opponents were already calling for fresh elections to resolve the situation.
In the earlier, first vote, Prodi’s alliance, the Union, had failed to secure an outright majority in the Upper House as Italy’s 322 senators voted for a speaker.
At the general election earlier this month, 158 senators were elected on the Union ticket and the centre-left had been counting, in addition, on support from a majority of Italy’s seven life senators.
But the opening vote for a new speaker yielded only 157 votes for the centre-left’s candidate, Franco Marini. Observers said Prodi, who watched the announcement of the results from the lower house, was visibly disappointed. His allies had predicted Marini would obtain an outright majority.
The centre-left has to win the speakership of both Houses if it is to persuade the president to give it a mandate. The head of state, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, has been waiting for evidence of the real balance of advantage in Parliament before deciding whether to ask Prodi to form a Cabinet. He initially signalled he wanted to hand the problem to his successor at the end of his tenure on May 18.
The centre-left’s most formidable obstacle in the Upper House was the former prime minister, Giulio Andreotti, whose long-term aim appeared to be to clear the way for a coalition of the parties close to the centre, similar to those he himself led on no less than seven occasions.
Andreotti, who remains popular despite past scandals, took 140 votes in the first round. But the Northern League, whose candidate won just 15 votes, said it was pulling out and telling its senators to lend their support to Andreotti’s cause.
Silvio Berlusconi, the outgoing Prime Minister, who was elected for the Lower House, made a point of not attending Friday’s opening session of Parliament. — Guardian Unlimited Â