Here, in part, is what I wrote about Berlusconi’s reluctance to cede power after losing in national elections to his perennial nemesis, Romano Prodi:
The election results, which left him only 2 seats short of Prodi’s majority in the Senate, have clearly stoked Berlusconi’s vain ambition to make Prodi’s term as prime minister even shorter and more beleaguered than his first 9-month term in 1994….
Congratulations Signore Prodi! And good luck. You’re going to need it….
Well, I suppose my critics can claim some measure of vindication from the fact that Prodi’s term lasted more than nine months. But this hardly undermines the premise of my article.
After all, by voting on Sunday to change governments yet again – even though Prodi had served only 2 of his 5-year term – the Italians are clearly continuing their promiscuous electoral ways. Indeed, this election will usher in Italy’s 62nd government since World War II….
(By comparison, the United States has had only 43 goverments since its founding almost 220 years ago….)
All the same, I’m obliged to hail Berlusconi’s third stint as prime minister.
Yet I am constrained to note that – as an evidently irrepressible 71-year old – Italian politics will probably force him to endure at least three more cycles of election defeat and return to power before he ends his career as Italy’s most dynamic and controversial politician since Benito Mussolini.
The months and years ahead will be difficult and I am preparing a government ready to last five years.
[Berlusconi – after his main rival conceded defeat on yesterday afternoon]
Alas, there’s no reason to believe that he will fare any better this time around in executing his campaign promises to liberalize the economy, reduce crime and clean up corruption (or for that matter to clean up the mess from a year-long garbage strike that has turned Naples into a city dump).
So, congratulations Signore Berlusconi! And good luck. You’re going to need it….
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