Italian centre left eats into Berlusconi lead

The Italian centre left, which fell from power last month, is closing the gap on Silvio Berlusconi's conservative opposition ahead of April's election, said a new poll published by a left-leaning newspaper.

As both sides regroup in tighter alliances to avoid a repeat of the broad, argumentative coalition that made Romano Prodi's 20-month tenure as premier such misery, Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom and two allies keeps a clear lead with 45.4 per cent.

But the Democratic Party led by Rome's outgoing Mayor Walter Veltroni, plus two small allies, takes 39 per cent - suggesting his decision to ditch Mr Prodi's hard-left allies is paying off ahead of the April 13-14 election. Most previous polls gave the right an advantage of closer to 10-12 points.

In the survey for La Repubblica by Demos-Eurisko, carried out from February 18-20 among 1,510 people, six out of 10 agree it is better to vote for one of the two main parties to avoid political fragmentation.

There had been a push by the main parties for electoral reform to move towards a two-party system to end the instability that has seen 61 governments come and go since World War II.

But Mr Berlusconi pulled out of reform talks with Mr Veltroni once Mr Prodi fell as he sensed a chance of a third term in power.

"We wanted an interim government to push through electoral reform to ensure stability after the election. But our political foes did not want it, showing no sense of responsibility," said Mr Veltroni, presenting his election platform on Monday.

Dismissing talk he was losing his lead, Mr Berlusconi cited a poll he said gave him a clear 10-point lead over Mr Veltroni.

When asked whether he would consider joining Mr Veltroni in a "grand coalition" government, Mr Berlusconi said he would, but only in the "unrealistic" event he does not win a landslide.

"As there was pretty much a draw (at the 2006 election), I offered to share the responsibility of governing with the other side," Mr Berlusconi told TG4 television news.

"If that situation were to happen again and it were us in the lead, I could only have the same response and make that offer to the other side."