Bossi wants early elections
Still eyeing meeting with president about Fini,League head says
07 September, 17:43
(see previous story on site).
(ANSA) - Rome, September 7 - Italian Premier Silvio
Berlusconi's key ally Umberto Bossi of the Northern League said
Tuesday it was better to have early elections than to try to
keep the government alive without a safe majority."It's better to vote right now. Getting bogged down is no good," said Bossi, who like Berlusconi is reportedly afraid that former ally Gianfranco Fini, the House Speaker, will wage a war of attrition despite his pledges of support.
Bossi said he and Berlusconi would "know what to do" after talking to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
"We must study the road to take with Napolitano," said Bossi, confirming Italian media reports that Berlusconi is seeking an 'exit strategy' from the muddle caused by the ejection of Fini from Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL) party in July and the government's subsequent loss of its majority in the House.
"After we have seen (Napolitano) we'll know more," the League leader said.
Asked if the vote might come in November, Bossi replied: "Anything can happen. The more time passes the worse it is".
"We have to take advantage of a window in which the economy is calm and settled because (Economy Minister Giulio) Tremonti sorted it out," he added.
Asked whether the League might run in the south of Italy, Bossi again replied: "Anything can happen".
"We haven't decided anything," he said.
The League has been moving south of its northern heartland in successive elections but has yet to make a serious challenge south of Rome. Bossi and Berlusconi said earlier Tuesday they wanted Napolitano to remove Fini, who has formed his own Future and Freedom (FLI) groups.
But the head of state does not have such powers and the Speaker cannot be removed by a confidence vote either.
He can only be persuaded to resign.
The centre-left opposition accused Berlusconi and Bossi of being "Constitutionally illiterate" in seeking to speak to Napolitano.
Even a PdL heavyweight, former interior minister Beppe Pisanu, observed that Bossi and Berlusconi's planned move was not part of Italy's institutional rules.
The League has been pressing for early elections since Fini split but Berlusconi has been seeking to delay them until early next year, according to media reports.
Berlusconi and Bossi's move to have Fini removed came after the Speaker attacked the premier and the PdL on Sunday but said the FLI would continue to support the government.
The FLI has 34 members in the 630-seat House and ten in the 315-seat Senate.
According to a poll Sunday the PdL, League and smaller allies would be returned in an election with a smaller majority, especially in the Senate.
The League is poised to increase its vote while the PdL would lose some ground, the poll said.
In his attack on the premier Sunday, Fini accused the media magnate-turned-politician of running the PdL like a company and said the party was "finished".
He also called his ejection from the PdL "Stalinist" and dubbed a month-long campaign against his family by Berlusconi-friendly dailies "shameful".
