Letters to the Editor

by RAY FLEMING
HAROLD Wilson once famously said of parliamentary majorities that “one is enough”. But, although he has claimed victory, it is unlikely that Romano Prodi will really think that a 0.1 per cent majority of the Italian vote will prove to be enough to govern his deeply divided country. Silvio Berlusconi is entitled to challenge the result and will almost certainly do so, and it is possible that each recount would in turn be challenged by whichever side proves to be the loser. It is an extraordinary dilemma for the Italian establishment as a whole although the electorate can certainly be given credit for turning out to record participation at over 80 per cent. Sr Prodi's task will be eased somewhat if his paper-thin advantage stands because under a new rule the majority party is automatically given 55 per cent of the seats in the more important lower house. Even so, because his coalition, more patchwork quilt than rainbow, ranges from Communists to centre-left parties, he will find considerable difficulty in holding it together when the policy pressures begin to show themselves. A period of instability seems inevitable, just as it is developing also in France and Germany. As if the Italian election did not already have enough problems, a delay in the swearing-in of a new government is inevitable because President Ciampi's term of office is coming to an end next month and a new president has first to be elected.