Italy's President Dissolves Parliament, Election Set For April 13-14

Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano dissolved parliament on Wednesday, and Cabinet slated an early election for April 13-14. The move was considered a nod to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who demanded an early election without changing the country's electoral law. The President's decision came after efforts to form an interim Government that could reform Italy's electoral law failed. The center-left cabinet led by Prime Minister Romano Prodi was brought down late last month after the ex-European Commission President lost a confidence vote in the Senate. Fearing that new elections under the current electoral law will produce a government as precarious as Prodi's, Napolitano wants a new law in place before he dissolves parliament. He asked Senate speaker Franco Marini, a 74-year-old former trade unionist, to seek support to form an interim government that could reform Italy's electoral law, but in vain. Napolitano on Wednesday expressed his reluctance to dissolve parliament and hold early elections. "Such early elections represent an anomaly," he said. The current electoral law, approved by the center-right government of Silvio Berlusconi in late 2005, is held by many analysts and left-wing politicians as being partly responsible for the instability of Romano Prodi's government.