Monti Coalition in Fourth Place for Elections

A coalition of centrist parties led by Italy's outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti is currently running in fourth place ahead of early elections in February, according to a poll published on Friday.

The center-left Democratic Party led by Pier Luigi Bersani was way ahead with 35.3 percent of voting intentions, according to the poll published by the Tecne agency for television network Sky Italia.

Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party came second with 19.5 percent, followed by 16.0 percent for the Five Star Movement led by populist blogger Beppe Grillo, a former comedian campaigning against corruption and in favor of environmental issues.

Parties supporting Monti garnered just 12.0 percent.

Political commentators say Monti could ally himself with the Democratic Party if it fails to win majorities in both houses of parliament and could become finance minister in such a coalition.

The poll, which was conducted on December 29 after former economics professor Monti announced his intention to lead a centrist coalition, had 600 respondents and a margin of error of 4.0 percent.