Vote again if no winners - Berlusconi (4)

(ANSA) - Rome, December 15 - There should be another general election if the one early next year produces an inconclusive result, ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday. He said the Gentiloni government should stay in power and "allow an election campaign that won't be very short, at least three months, that can allow the parties to set out their platforms to the voters".
    The next general election is expected in March or May. Current polls say there will not be an outright winner.
    The centre-right coalition led by Berlusconi and featuring his centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, the anti-euro, anti-migrant League (L) and the small nationalist Brothers of Italy (FdI) party is ahead in the polls over the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), which is second on its own, and the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD), which is third.
    The conservative coalition has around 32-33% of popular support, most polls show, while the M5S is on about 27-28% and the PD has fallen to about 24%.
    But PD leader and ex-premier Matteo Renzi has pledged that the PD will be the biggest party after the election.
    Several observers have said a revived grand coalition between the PD and FI might be the only possibility to rule Italy after the vote.
    But Berlusconi on Wednesday ruled this out.
    "The left is too leftist," he said.
    The three-time former premier also reiterated a pledge to "renew" FI ahead of the vote.
    Many incumbent MPs will not stand again," he said.
    Berlusconi said FI "will present protagonists of business, the professions, the universities, and of the high ranks of the third sector".
    League leader Matteo Salvini said Wednesday that the party was suspending all talks and meetings with FI until they received an official explanation of the latter's vote against a fast-track procedure for the Molteni Law.
    The law would cancel sentence reductions for serious crimes including murder and rape. FI voted against the procedure in the justice committee of the Senate. "This is shameful," Salvini added. "It is the latest in a long strong of offenses to women and all the victims of violence." In response, Berlusconi said that he would not comment on the matter for the time being and that "I want to meet with Salvini and speak about these things with him. I never considered these things. These are decision made by the parliamentary groups.