Cassola elected to Italian Parliament

Arnold Cassola, who failed to be elected to the European Parliament on behalf of Alternattiva Demokratika, has won a seat in the Italian Lower House on the ticket of Romano Prodi's L'Unione, netting about 19,000 votes.

His candidacy forms part of the European list for expatriates.

His election came as a surprise. Indeed, earlier in the day he had told The Times he was satisfied with the results and that he had actually done better than expected even if he were not elected.

Shortly afterwards, however, he received a phone call from a friend telling him he is now onorevole. "I thought he was joking... he told me to look on the website of the Italian Home Affairs Ministry."

Sure enough, his name was there. "I am told I got some 19,000 votes. I knew I had done well but I didn't expect to be elected. Even the Verdi - the Italian green party - didn't know. I told them."

Asked about his future as a Maltese politician, he does not seem to have much doubt: "This victory is a platform for the 2009 Euro-parliamentary elections.

The way I see it, this is an added opportunity to gain experience for a prospective seat in the European Parliament... that is if my party would want me".

The situation, however, is not at all rosy in Italy. In fact, a few hours after official data started showing that the centre-left broad alliance had won control of both houses of Parliament and were declared winners, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi rejected his opponent's claim to victory alleging widespread voting irregularities.

The rejection, along with a call for a grand coalition, such as the one formed in Germany, was his first public statement on the result of the elections.

On this point, Prof. Cassola said the electoral system which Mr Berlusconi's own government had changed to favour his own political camp had turned against him. L'Unione - the centre-left - seems to have gotten fewer votes for the senate but secured the senate just the same, he said. "This is the formula devised by Berlusconi himself.

"I think that one of the first priorities of this government, once the President is elected, should be to reform the electoral system."

Asked what he thought had led to the discrepancies between early polls suggesting a strong win for Prof. Prodi and the close call, Prof. Cassola said the electorate had been lured by a number of last-minute gimmicks by the centre-right.

"Berlusconi promised to remove the property tax for first-time home buyers for example. The mistake made by the left-wing coalition was not to have clarified such issues and this should serve as a lesson for the future," he said.

Given the tight result, the centre-right is likely to demand a recount. On this note, Prof. Cassola says there could be a number of recounts given that the result has been so close and since Mr Berlusconi would not give up power easily.

"He has a lot at stake and he will not concede defeat so easily," Prof. Cassola said.

Prof. Prodi's coalition of centre-left parties obtained almost 53 per cent of the Senate vote from Italians living in Europe with an overall 247,895 votes. Forza Italia followed with 24.5 per cent, followed by Antonio Di Pietro's Italia dei Valori and the UDC (Christian Democrats), with 5.45 per cent and 4.62 per cent respectively.

In the Lower House, L'Unione won by 52.87 per cent of the European expatriate vote followed by Forza Italia's 24.4 per cent.