My heart bleeds

Were today a Saturday, this would qualify as a "good news Saturday" post: exit polls in Italy suggest that Silvio Berlusconi may well have been ousted in the general election. No results have bee confirmed as yet, but as the BBC reports:

According to exit polls, centre-left leader Romano Prodi is on course to beat Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

A Nexus poll shown on Italian TV put Mr Prodi's coalition on 50-54% in both houses of parliament, with Mr Berlusconi's coalition on 45-49%.

All reports seem to indicate that the turn-out has been particularly high, up in the 80-85% region. It remains to be seen whether the official results will confirm these early reports, and if they do, what sort of a coalition Romano Prodi will be able to form, how long it will last, and how effective it will be. Italian governments, of course, are notoriously short-lived. Berlusconi's goverment, which now looks to be coming to an end, is the longest-serving Italian government since the Second World War.

I for one will not lament Mr. Berlusconi's election loss, should it come. Perhaps once he is no longer in power, the Italian authorities can pursue the corruption claims against him, without being thwarted at every turn and having special dispensations and laws passed especially for Berlusconi. We can only hope.

Tags:
Italy; politics; Berlusconi