Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is as stubborn in defeat as he was in success. The country’s highest court has confirmed the narrow victory of Romano Prodi's center-left coalition in this month’s general election. For the incumbent, that’s not enough to concede defeat.
Is Berlusconi becoming politically delusional? After all, he reversed the electoral law that had produced relative political stability, returning to a proportional representation system. Instead, that shift produced a fragmented verdict.
During the campaign, Berlusconi continued to exploit his media empire to get disproportionate television coverage for himself and his party. Has failure in the face of such advantages aggravated his malady?
Actually, Berlusconi seems to have his politics right. By questioning an outcome he knows he will inevitably have to accept, Berlusconi may be fortifying his arsenal. Prodi's coalition is fractious enough in terms of personality and ideology. Making it vulnerable to incessant opposition attacks could be one way of reclaiming the mandate Berlusconi feels should have been his all along.
Ordinarily, such callous regard for the people’s will might have sounded the death knell on a politician. With fraudulent elections – at least the perception of them – no longer the exclusive preserve of Third World autocracies, Berlusconi evidently feels he has time on his side.
In another country, such a dogged refusal to yield to the bedrock principle of democracy might have fueled concerns about its political stability. Here, too, Berlusconi feels sufficiently strong. Post-war Italy has averaged about a government a year.
Prodi’s inheritance is hardly enviable, particularly so on the economic front. Berlusconi’s government proved a grave disappointment on the vital reforms needed to improve Italy's competitiveness. The result: Italy is at the lowest rung of the eurozone ladder.
Moreover, Prodi is hamstrung by the strong showing of far-left constituents of his alliance, especially the unreconstructed Communists led by Fausto Bertinotti.
A prominent opponent of large-scale reforms, Bertinotti hopes to undo the labor-market reform introduced by Berlusconi to encourage the use of temporary and short-term contracts. The way French leaders burned their fingers in a similar cauldron will have only bolstered Bertinotti’s hand.
Prodi, more than anyone else, remembers how it was Bertinotti’s withdrawal of support that brought down his previous centre-left government in 1998. No wonder the premier-elect can’t seem to sit back and let Berlusconi’s theatrics run their course.
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