Italy's president dissolves Parliament, clearing way for early elections

Italy's president dissolved parliament on Wednesday, clearing the way for early elections only two years after the last parliamentary vote.

The president made the decision after Premier Romano Prodi's center-left government fell late last month and subsequent efforts to form an interim government failed.

The date of the election was to be decided at a Cabinet meeting starting at 1200 GMT.

The election must be held within 70 days of the dissolution of parliament, and April 13-14 was seen as the most likely date as it would give candidates more time for campaigning.

Prodi will continue as caretaker premier until the election.

Italy was plunged into political crisis when Prodi's government collapsed Jan. 24 after only 20 months in power.

"Such early elections represent an anomaly," Napolitano said Wednesday, explaining why he had tried to avoid them. He added that he regretted that new elections would be held without a reform of the election law, which is widely blamed for contributing to the country's chronic government instability.

Napolitano had originally asked the Senate speaker, Franco Marini, to try to gather the necessary cross-party support for an interim government that could oversee a change in the country's electoral law.

But the attempt ended in failure Monday, and Napolitano was left with little choice but to dissolve parliament and call immediate elections. The legislature was the second-shortest one in Italy's postwar history, according to Italian media.

Early elections represent a victory for Silvio Berlusconi, the conservative leader who has repeatedly demanded a return to the polls since the fall of Prodi's government.

Berlusconi has firmly rejected any possibility of an interim government, effectively sinking Marini's efforts. The 71-year-old former premier is hoping for a new stint in power as domestic opinion polls suggest his center-right coalition would win an early election.

The center-left coalition trails in opinion polls. Its leader and expected candidate for premier, Walter Veltroni, had hoped to delay a vote by supporting the possibility of an interim government.

Veltroni had been pushing for a change in the election law before any new parliament vote is held, saying the risk of instability is too high for whichever coalition wins the next election.

The current law, a proportional-representation system, was passed in the last months of Berlusconi's 2001-06 tenure but was later criticized even by its proponents. It is widely seen as giving too much power to small parties, thus increasing the risk of instability.

Prodi had to resign after a small centrist party withdrew its support, causing the government to lose a confidence vote in the Senate, where the premier's forces had a minimal edge. Throughout his time in office, Prodi had to mediate between positions in a varied coalition that included several small parties.