Berlusconi to attend N. League rally

(ANSA) - Rome, November 5 - Former center right premier Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday he will gladly attend a rally organized by the rightwing, anti-immigrant Northern League (LN) at the weekend.
    "I am very happy to accept the invitation of League secretary, Matteo Salvini," said Berlusconi, who leads the center-right Forza Italia (FI) party.
    An earlier version of FI and the League were erstwhile ruling coalition partners under previous Berlusconi administrations, along with the now-defunct, rightwing National Alliance (AN).
    "We could not remain indifferent to the pressure from our voters, who have been insistently calling on a strong demonstration of center-right unity," Berlusconi said.
    "The center-right movements are absolutely convinced they can only win as long as they are united".
    "I am happy about Berlusconi's presence," said Salvini.
    "A finally compact opposition can liberate Italians from the left, its taxes and its (immigrant) invasion".
    Salvini is an outspoken opponent of the government's open-door policy towards asylum seekers.
    In the latest polling, Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) remained Italy's number one party at 34% of projected votes, followed by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement at 26.4%, LN at 14.8% and FI at 9.6%.
    The small rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, who will also attend the rally, scored 3.1%.