Italy's centre left lead, stable on Berlusconi

Italy's centre left is maintaining a steady lead of 4.5 percentage points over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's bloc ahead of an April 9-10 general election, a survey published yesterday showed.

The poll, by TNS Abacus for Sky TG24, put Romano Prodi's "Union" coalition at 51.5 per cent and the centre-right at 47 per cent, both unchanged from a previous poll by the same agency a week ago.

All recent published surveys have put Mr Prodi's lead at between four and five percentage points. While the opposition's lead was significantly wider a few months ago, over the past two weeks Mr Berlusconi's rally appears to have stalled, with polls showing Mr Prodi's coalition steady or edging slightly higher.

The TNS poll said the results would give the centre left 340 seats in the lower house of Parliament against 277 for the centre right. In the upper house, its majority would be much slimmer at 161 seats against 154.