One of the most notable outcomes of the election is the complete defeat of the leftist coalition which includes communists and greens. They were not able to overcome the thresholds set in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies and will therefore not be represented in the Parliament for the first time since the fall of fascism.
The second biggest political force of the country, the centre-left coalition run by Walter Veltroni, was left well behind Berlusconi's in both chambers of Parliament. However, the former major of Rome has been widely recognised as the triggering force that helped overcome the excessive fragmentation of the Italian political system.
By merging his party, the Democrats of the Left, with other centre-left forces, he created the Democratic Party and prompted a wave of other political mergers ahead of the elections. The result is that in the new Parliament the number of parties will be drastically cut, bringing Italy closer to European standards.
The clear victory secured by Berlusconi gives him a comfortable majority in both chambers of the Italian Parliament, including the Senate whose extreme balance proved to be too big a hurdle for the former government led by Romano Prodi. The Lega Nord party of Umberto Bossi strongly contributed to the positive result of the right-wing coalition with a significant increase of his electoral base.
Berlusconi has made clear that he will cut the number of ministers to 12 from the current 26. The vice-president of the European Commission in charge of internal affairs and justice, Franco Frattini, has already been promised the job of minister of foreign affairs, which he held in the former Berlusconi-led government between 2002 and 2004.
The new government will first address the rubbish crisis in Campania and the sale of the collapsing national airline Alitalia, Berlusconi said yesterday evening.
His designated economy minister Giulio Tremonti, who served in the same position in the last government, has several times showed himself to be in favour of introducing new trade barriers to protect European industries and workers. This could rapidly put him at loggerheads with the generally more liberal-minded European Commission.
