At the moment the "lists" are the only thing people in Italy seem to want to talk about. This is because it won't be the Italian voters who decide the names of deputies and senators for the next Parliament: the choice of names to be elected, in line with the law, will in fact be decided by the parties.

This is why in these elections "lists" are a key talking point: the "lista" being literally the list of names chosen by the parties and presented to the electorate. Of all the lists, which closed last night, the most debated and most controversial was that of Berlusconi. The names are of course inserted in the list for their ability to attract votes but for the leader of the PDL - in search of consensus especially in those regions where the victory is uncertain for the Senate - the selection was something of a headache. Especially in Campania, where the PDL was considering candidates involved in trials related to the Camorra, such as Nicola Cosentino. Campania is one of those regions where, according to the polls, the victory of one party over the other is going to be a close run thing. So the choice of candidates heading the list is fundamental and Cosentino, who was eventually side-lined , was in this respect considered something of a vote getter.

Berlusconi has stated that he wants to win the 2013 election. He won the last election in 2008, with 37.4% of the vote (in the Camera) allied with Lega Nord, which gained 8,3 percent. But what ambitions can Berlu-sconi hold today? Polls give PDL around 20%, but the polls, as we all know, can lead you up the garden path. With 20% of the vote, PDL could manage second place, after PD, the main party of the centre-left and the most likely winner, at least in the Camera. Being second, however, will not give Berlusconi much hope for a place in the government: indirectly he may encourage an alliance between the PD and Monti's Centrist Movement, especially in the Senate. The weight that Berlu-sconi carries in regions such as Lombardia, Veneto and Sicilia could determine the defeat of the PD in the Senate and as such push for an agreement between Bersani and Monti.

Since reappearing on TV, during his election campaign, Berlu-sconi seems to have pushed a lot of buttons in terms of his popularity but in any case he clearly has less force than he had five years ago. In short, the leader of the PDL is the "head of the centre-right coalition" but not a future prime minister. This is because its main ally, Lega Nord (the party fighting for federalism with grass root support in the North), vetoed the possibility of Berlu-sconi becoming PM in future, choosing in his place the former Minister of the Economy Giulio Tremonti.
So it would seem the "Cavaliere" has lost his shine as he had to give up his dream of unifying moderate Italians. As long as Casini (a member of the former Democrazia Cristiana), Fini (who comes from the former radical right) and Bossi (former leader of Lega Nord) supported him, Berlusconi dominated Italian politics but when the unity of the right began to fall apart in 2008, the political scene changed completely. Today the leader of the PDL faces a new opponent in the form of Mario Monti, who is highly thought of even within the European People's Party.
(Traduzione di James Tierney)