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Italyâ€™s Berlusconi downplays election talk

10 September 2010 19:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi played down talk of early elections Friday, saying he would keep going for his full term, despite months of speculation that his government will fall prematurely, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Speaking at a forum in Russia on democracy, Berlusconi dismissed the crisis that has engulfed the ruling center-right in the wake of a split with his estranged former ally Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house of parliament.
"There are little issues for people who make a living from politics, who want to have their little political business so they can count for something in politics but who don’t affect the governability of the country," Berlusconi said in a speech.
"My government will keep going calmly with the major reforms that are ahead of us for the three years that remain in the parliamentary term," he said.
The comments ahead of a confidence vote expected to be held in parliament later this month suggested Berlusconi may be moving away from the idea of going to the polls.
The 73 year-old prime minister initially declared that he was prepared to seek new elections by December, more than two years before the end of his five-year term in 2013.
Earlier this week, he said he would meet President Giorgio Napolitano to seek the removal of Fini as speaker of the lower house but other comments from party allies suggest he would prefer to avoid an early election if possible.
Opinion polls suggest that he retains enough support to beat the weak center-left opposition but would probably emerge weakened from any election held in the next few months.
Berlusconi, who is due to speak in parliament in the last week of September, has pinned the future of his government to a 5-point program of measures including reform of the justice system and giving regions more autonomy in tax matters.
He no longer has a secure majority in parliament following the split with Fini, who commands enough support from a rebel group of 34 center-right deputies to topple the government if they voted with the opposition.
But while he has been fiercely critical of Berlusconi, Fini has said he would not take any steps to cause the premature end of the government and would vote in favor of a confidence motion as long as it upheld electoral pledges.
He has also indicated that he would be willing to support moves that would shield Berlusconi from prosecution over a corruption case and a separate tax fraud affair.