Italy: Berlusconi Leads Before Elections

Media mogul Silvio Berlusconi is more likely to become the next prime minister of Italy than Rome’s former center-left mayor Walter Veltroni, analysts say.

Despite the attention Veltroni’s bid has garnered, Berlusconi has better odds of making his third comeback as the country’s leader, the E.U. Observer reported Friday.

Italy is nearing an early parliamentary election Sunday and Monday, with the winners succeeding the fall of Romano Prodi’s center-left coalition in January.

Prodi reportedly lost his vote of confidence mostly because of struggles within the nine parties of his coalition. It is reported that objections to election law changes from smaller coalitions also contributed to Prodi’s downfall.

Berlusconi has put to use his power and ownership in the media industry when publicizing his ideas, the Observer reported. Polls this month indicated Berlusconi was ahead of Veltroni by 5 to 9 percentage points.