Cassola likens Italian campaign to 1980s Malta

The acrimonious campaign leading to this weekend's Italian general election is reminiscent of the hostile elections in Malta in the 1980s, according to candidate Arnold Cassola.

Nursing a cold at the end of a long campaign, Prof. Cassola told The Times yesterday: "It's like Malta in the worst of times where electoral gimmicks and hatred towards political opponents become the order of the day".

Though he ranks his chances of winning a seat in the Italian Parliament as bleak, Prof. Cassola says that his ultimate aim is to help boot Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi out of office.

Prof. Cassola was chosen by the Italian Verdi (Greens) and Romano Prodi's Unione centre-left coalition as one of the 12 expatriate candidates for the European constituency.

He is vying for one of six seats in the lower house and two senators' seats from the list of 114 candidates, which include celebrities like Rita Pavone.

After narrowly failing to be elected on the Alternattiva Demokratika ticket in the last European elections, Prof. Cassola shifted his attention to the Italian elections.

"It's been an honour to be one of the chosen 12 and it's definitely given me the necessary experience. In the last MEP election, I was the only candidate with EU experience - in the next one I will be the only one who'd have run for election overseas," says Prof. Cassola, who is also the general secretary of the European Greens.

He says proper campaigning and canvassing of Italian communities has been difficult, but he has travelled to 15 countries from Switzerland to Germany to Ukraine to meet as many people as possible.

"I went into people's homes, but ultimately the campaign focused on public activities and press conferences. A lot of people don't care about the election, though others feel they should play a part."

More than three million Italians living overseas are registered to vote but just over a third had voted by yesterday. In Malta, a total of 68 per cent of Italians cast their vote.

Before now, Italians wanting to vote had to return home. But a law in 2001 allowed them not only to vote abroad, but also to choose MPs and senators. The new system also allows second-generation Italians who have got citizenship through their parents to take part in the elections, which made Prof. Cassola eligible to stand.

The former university lecturer warned against another government headed by the media mogul.

"Berlusconi has increased his empire sevenfold while he served in government and in the meantime, he has introduced laws to accommodate himself. He has made countless diplomatic gaffes leading to tension with countries like Germany, Finland and China."

His behaviour and actions in the last week has made him even more unpopular and will be the final nail in Mr Berlusconi's coffin, Prof. Cassola believes. Besides promising a number of tax cuts, including a last-minute promise to abolish municipal taxes on first homes, the Italian Prime Minister used disparaging language with regard to people who vote for the opposition.

"Even if he is not a media man like Berlusconi, Prodi is the right man to lead the coalition, and I'll be happy to see him bringing Italy back to its European vocation," Prof. Cassola says.