Berlusconi backs Marchini for Rome mayor

(ANSA) - Rome, April 28 - Former civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso has pulled out of the Rome mayoral race as Forza Italia's (FI) candidate in favour of businessman Alfio Marchini, FI leader Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday. "We have decided with Guido Bertoalso to back the candidacy of Alfio Marchini," the center-right ex-premier and media mogul said.
    "Marchini had been our first option, and had been dropped because of vetoes from a coalition ally," Berlusconi said, referring to rightwing Northern League leader Matteo Salvini. Bertolaso had been lagging in fifth place in polls that show the League candidate, rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni, vying with anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) candidate Virginia Raggi for top spot ahead of the center-left Democratic Party's (PD) Roberto Giachetti and Marchini, hitherto an independent.
    Giachetti quipped he feels sorry for his center-right opponent, because he will have to change all his campaign posters since winning Berlusconi's party backing. Rome is papered with Marchini posters saying the candidate is "free from parties". Marchini said his slogan meant the centre-right should team up to "free Rome" from those who damaged it.
    Raggi also swiftly commented on the contradiction, saying Marchini's vaunted independence from political parties has been "unmasked". Berlusconi's decision to replace Bertolaso with Marchini "is epochal," commented Pier Ferdinando Casini, leader of the small New Center Right (NCD) party. "It reopens a season of possible convergence among Italian moderates".