Berlusconi Rises Again as Right Triumphs in Sicily

W460

Silvio Berlusconi was Monday celebrating a return to center-stage in Italian politics as a right-wing coalition he helped put together claimed a convincing victory in Sicily elections seen as a key test ahead of a general election next year.

With 60 percent of votes counted after Sunday's election, the Berlusconi-backed candidate for regional president, Nello Musumeci, had 39.27 percent, comfortably clear of Giancarlo Cancelleri of the populist Five Star Movement (M5S), on 35.05 percent.

Declaring the latest triumph in his checkered career, 81-year-old Berlusconi said on his social media platforms: "Sicily has chosen the road of real, serious and constructive change, based on honesty, competence and experience."

Fewer than half the 4.5 million eligible voters cast ballots with turnout predicted to be slightly down from other recent votes on the mafia-plagued island where disillusionment with politicians runs deep.

The outcome represents a significant setback for M5S, which had harbored ambitions of taking control of its first region after claiming the mayorships of Rome, Turin and a string of smaller municipalities last year.

It also underlined the significant problems facing the ruling Democratic Party as it struggles to unite Italy's divided left in time for a general election due in the first half of 2018.

Summing up the lessons of the vote, Luiss university politics professor Giovannia Orsina said: "Berlusconi is still going and the right is competitive again."

- Divided left -

Five Star did double its popular vote from the last round of regional elections and claimed a moral victory on the grounds that it was projected to get more votes that any other single party.

Fabrizio Micari, the Democratic Party (PD) candidate, claimed 18 percent of the votes counted, having suffered slightly less slippage than expected to a rival from the far left.

PD regional secretary Fausto Raciti warned that the vote, which means the party will lose control of the Sicilian regional assembly, had worrying implications for the left.

"As we wait for the definitive results, we can only recognize a clear defeat. I hope that this outcome will trigger reflection across the left on the need for unity," he said.

As things stand, the PD will enter the general election with former premier Matteo Renzi as its candidate to lead the country.

A centrist, Renzi is loathed by many on the left of his own party and in other factions. They accuse him of adopting right-wing policies in the guise of reforms aimed at bolstering Italy's flagging competitiveness.

Renzi also carries the baggage of his defeat in a 2015 referendum on constitutional reform that led to his resignation and replacement by current premier Paolo Gentiloni.

- Barred from office -

In contrast, Berlusconi is on the rise again and victory in Sicily will strengthen his hand as he prepares to tie down the terms of a general election alliance with the far-right Northern League.

"This marks the start of a wonderful new chapter for the united right," said Giovanni Toti, governor of the northern region of Liguria and a key lieutenant of the revitalized Berlusconi.

Four-time former premier Berlusconi, famous for his 'Bunga Bunga' sex parties, penchant for plastic surgery and serial gaffes, had been written off as a spent political force after a series of scandals and open heart surgery last year.

He is barred from public office as a result of a conviction for tax fraud, but is hoping to have the ban lifted. Even if it is not he will be a central figure in what promises to be a highly unpredictable election.

With the left struggling to overcome its divisions and M5S losing momentum, a Forza Italia-Northern League alliance looks well-placed to emerge as the biggest force at the polls, which will be fought under a new electoral system favoring broad alliances.

M5S has denounced the electoral reform as rigged against it. The party, which styles itself as an anti-establishment force, has thus far ruled out entering into any alliance.

Its candidate for prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, had been due to debate Renzi on national television on Monday but pulled out as the disappointing Sicily results emerged.

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