Allies turn on Berlusconi after TV debate

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's hopes of retaining power were dealt a blow yesterday when two main allies criticised him for a lacklustre performance in a key TV debate before April national elections.

Four snap opinion polls said opposition leader Romano Prodi unexpectedly performed better than Mr Berlusconi in a head-to-head confrontation on Tuesday that was watched by a massive audience of some 17 million Italians, roughly a third of the electorate.

Mr Berlusconi's attempts to claim victory cut no ice with his centre-right partners who said he had failed to provide a clear vision of what his alliance wanted to achieve.

"I believe that yesterday was a missed opportunity," Pier Ferdinando Casini, head of the centrist Union of Christian Democrats party, told reporters.

Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, who leads the conservative National Alliance party, was even more critical.

"(Berlusconi) gave the impression that all was well, as if he wanted to get top marks. That was excessive because many voters who are still undecided know that society still has many problems," Mr Fini said in a statement.

The criticism underscored tensions inside the ruling coalition, with Mr Berlusconi's allies unhappy over the Prime Minister's high campaign profile which has overshadowed their own efforts to engage voters.

Recent opinion polls have given Mr Prodi's centre-left a lead of between 3.5 and 5.0 percentage points against the centre-right, but with up to a quarter of voters still undecided the result of the April 9-10 elections remains in doubt.

Mr Berlusconi had pushed hard for a TV debate with a reluctant Mr Prodi, who is often a dour television performer, hoping that a direct confrontation would help him close the gap.

The Prime Minister unleashed a stream of statistics to defend his government's handling of the stagnant economy, ridiculed Mr Prodi's answers and called the centre-left leader a "front man" for hard leftists within the opposition alliance.

But his tone was largely negative and defensive, while a smiling Mr Prodi appeared more composed and upbeat.

"It seems to me we have not succeeded, at least as far as I am concerned, in giving Italians what they wanted to know," Mr Berlusconi said in his closing comments, a rare admission of failure for a man famed for his sunny optimism.

Looking to regain the initiative, he later told reporters he had secured a clearcut victory, but the four opinion polls published yesterday said Mr Prodi had won by a margin of between 1.2 percentage points to seven points.

The two men will hold a second and final debate on April 3.

In the meantime, Mr Berlusconi will have to try to heal the divisions within his own alliance, knowing voters are likely to punish any signs of disunity.

Mr Fini said the centre-right would need to emerge from the vote "in a different (form), more capable of listening to ordinary people", while Mr Casini said the electorate wanted to hear more about future plans rather than past achievements.

Tuesday's debate capped a bad week for Mr Berlusconi during which Milan prosecutors sought to have him indicted in a corruption probe and his Health Minister, Francesco Storace, quit over a domestic political spying scandal.

"This debate was another step towards (Berlusconi's) defeat," said former centre-left Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema.