Quote:
Originally Posted by Savorgnan
Casa delle Libertà (CdL) and a new Center-Left "Democratic" party, cleaned of the old stalinists of Rifondazione Comunista like Fausto Bertinotti and friends?
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Well, that's not entirely correct.
The Casa delle Libertà is entirely split on the referendum. The UDC (a small Catholic centrist party), Forza Italia, and the Lega Nord are all opposed to the referendum (as is 'supposedly' most of the center-left), while Gianfranco Fini's Alleanza Nazionale is for it. The biggest movers for the referendum are some politicians within the Democratic Party, AN, Italia dei Valori (though I'm not entirely sure), and some government officials like Parisi, the defense minister.
It's a really divisive issue, a lot of discontented voters are pouring for the referendum simply to smack the political establishment. That's why the scramble to reform the electoral law has gotten so crazy now. The smaller parties, if they are not satisfied with either the referendum (which they are not), or the "compromise" bill between Forza Italia and the Democratic Party (which is referred to the "small party assassin"), they are likely to pull the plug on the government to cancel the referendum, and force a vote with the current law.
But Veltroni I think may also simply want to exercise his muscles. He had a lot of popularity when he was first declared the Democratic chief, but lately, it's been scraped away along with the decreasing faith in the government from among the electorate. I think he may be interested in pulling the plug in order to not "burn himself out" before 2011, the scheduled election date. And this of course interests Berlusconi in the opposition as well, as he gets one last chance to run for office.