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Berlusconi fraud claims overshadow Prodi poll win

4月13日 星期四 新加坡时间21:17

法新社罗马电  意大利陷入了越来越严重的不确定之中，现任总理西尔维奥·贝卢斯科尼(Silvio Berlusconi)声称，在选举过程中存在广泛的舞弊现象。而竞选获胜的罗马诺·普多迪(Romano Prodi)则开始了新政府的组建步伐。

贝卢斯科尼要求对所有60,000个投票站的选票进行更为深入的复查，同时有超过100万的选票被认为可能存在问题。之前在宣布普多迪获胜后，贝卢斯科尼要求对43,000张争议选票进行重新点算。

上周三晚间在会见总统卡洛·阿泽利奥·钱皮(Carlo Azeglio Ciampi)后，贝卢斯科尼向媒体表示：“选举结果必须也一定会改变，因为在许多地方、甚至整个意大利都笼罩在无休止的选举操纵之中”。先前，他告知钱皮总统，在周日和周一两天的选举中，有数不清的违规行为。

在贝卢斯科尼和总统钱皮的70分钟的会面中不清楚双方交谈了什么。但意大利媒体引用政府消息说，贝卢斯科尼希望钱皮签署一份特殊政令，要求史无前例地重新点算全部110万张问题选票，相信钱皮拒绝了这个要求。

经济学家表示，目前的僵局对普罗迪即将组建的中左政府毫无帮助，使其无法顺利地大踏步地改善经济。“这对新政府而言，绝对不是一个好的开端。”美国银行的经济学家马修·夏拉特(Matthew Sharratt)警告说，在意大利新政府宣示就职前，会面临可能长达两个月的政府行政机构瘫痪的局面。

贝卢斯科尼得到自由同盟(House of Freedoms)中两个政党的支持，分别是全国联盟(National Alliance)和北部联盟(Northern League)，而天主教民主中心(Christian Democrat UDC)的领导人则保持沉默。《晚邮报》(Corriere della Sera)援引其领导人、即将离职的议会发言人——皮耶尔·费尔迪南多·卡西尼(Pier Ferdinando Casini)的说法，“在接下去的两个月里面，我们不能继续这样下去。”

胜利者普罗迪已经得到了包括法国总统雅克·希拉克(Jacques Chirac)在内的一些国外领导人的祝贺，但是作为贝卢斯科尼的盟友，美国总统乔治·（小）布什(George W. Bush)还没有发来祝贺，同样没有表示祝贺的还有教宗本笃十六世(Pope Benedict XVI)。

将在4月28日开始运作的新一届议会的首要工作就是选举出新总统。意大利媒体担心，由于议会的分裂会使讨论陷入漫长的过程之中。普罗迪在下议院选举中以25,000票的优势获胜，根据意大利选举法，无论得票差距多少，都将获得55%的席位。而在上议院（参议院）中中左联盟则拥有两席的优势。但是在意大利最高法院确认选举结果的合法性之前,目前的结果都只是暂时的。意大利媒体表示在周日或周一前，相信不会宣布结果。

Original News

Berlusconi fraud claims overshadow Prodi poll win

Thursday April 13, 9:17 PM

ROME (AFP) - Italy has stumbled deeper into uncertainty as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi alleged widespread fraud at the polls and election winner Romano Prodi forged ahead with plans for a new government.

Berlusconi, who initially demanded a recount of 43,000 contested votes after Prodi won, called for a wider check of returns from all 60,000 polling stations, as well as more than one million votes deemed invalid.

Prodi, leader of a centre-left coalition, accused Berlusconi of delaying tactics and told supporters at a victory rally in his home city of Bologna that the media magnate politician should "go home".

"The result must, and will, change because there has been endless vote rigging in different places, all over Italy," Berlusconi told reporters late Wednesday after making a visit to President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to inform him of "innumerable irregularities" in the two-day election Sunday and Monday.

"Did you think you’d got rid of me?" he joked.

It was unclear what transpired at the 70-minute meeting with the president, but Italian newspapers citing government sources said Berlusconi had hoped to get Ciampi to sign a special decree ordering an unprecedented recount of the 1,100,000 spoiled votes. Ciampi is believed to have refused.

Berlusconi has kept up a barrage of electoral fraud allegations and refused to concede defeat for his centre-right government ever since the results Tuesday showed Prodi as the narrow winner.

Economists warned the stalemate would do little to help Prodi’s incoming centre-left government to kick-start an ailing economy.

"It’s not a good start for the new government," said Bank of America economist Matthew Sharratt, who warned that Italy faced a likely two months of "administrative paralysis" before a new government could be sworn in.

Raj Badiani, economist with Global Insight, said the standoff would have "no immediate impact" on the economy but could affect recent positive consumer and business confidence figures if allowed to drag on.

"Obviously if the situation drags on, we could then see another year in which growth is close to zero," he said.

Berlusconi has the backing of two of his House of Freedoms allies, the National Alliance and Northern League, although the third — the Christian Democrat UDC — has maintained a dignified silence.

"We can’t go on like this for the next two months," the Corriere della Sera quoted Christian Democrat UDC leader, outgoing parliament speaker Pier Ferdinando Casini, as saying.

Prodi pressed ahead with talks with his coalition partners on forming a government, and sought to give an impression of a smooth transition to power.

Following Berlusconi’s allegations, he made a late-night phone call to Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, whose ministry was responsible for overseeing the vote.

Prodi told reporters Thursday Pisanu had told him: "Relax, and have a good Easter."

"The situation seems calmer, because I know there’s nothing to worry about. We need patience, but in the end, this is democracy," Prodi said.

The victor said he had received congratulations from foreign leaders, including French President Jacques Chirac, but none yet from US President George W. Bush — an ally of Berlusconi — and Pope Benedict XVI.

But Prodi’s admission Wednesday that Italy will have to wait until May for a new government has done little to quell the growing sense of a political crisis.

The situation is complicated by the fact that Italy’s president, whose duty it is to swear in the new government, ends his seven-year term of office on May 18. Ciampi, 85, has said he wants his successor to do the swearing in.

The first task of the new parliament, which is due to convene on April 28, will be to elect the new president. The Italian press feared drawn-out negotiations because of the parliamentary divisions.

Prodi squeaked into power by a margin of 25,000 votes in the lower house Chamber of Deputies, where a bonus system under Italy’s electoral law automatically gives his Union coalition 55 percent of the seats regardless of the margin of victory.

The Union also has a two-seat majority in the upper house Senate.

The results are considered provisional until Italy’s supreme court, the Corte di Cassazione, rules on their validity.

Italian media said a ruling was not expected before Sunday or Monday.