Cassola contesting Italian election with pro-abortion coalition

Alternattiva Demokratika's Arnold Cassola says he does not feel uncomfortable contesting the Italian election under the political wing of la Sinistra l'Arcobaleno, a group considered to be extreme left and fervently pro-abortion.

The election being contested next week will be Prof. Cassola's second. He is entitled to contest because of his Italian ancestry.

Contacted in Italy, Prof. Cassola told The Sunday Times: "It's true that Sinistra Arcobaleno is pro-abortion but I am against it. The issue of abortion was decided in Italy in a referendum 30 years ago and if we want to change it there has to be another referendum."

However, the objective of the coalition appears to go beyond that. In its electoral manifesto for the next election, the Sinistra Arcobaleno is proposing to extend the right of abortion to immigrants, to guarantee that the state applies abortion through its public health service and to introduce the abortion pill 'RU486' as a technical means which interrupts pregnancy to all those women who ask for it.

Asked whether he feels comfortable contesting on the same ticket of a party proposing the extension of abortion, Prof. Cassola said that he does not agree with that aspect of the manifesto.

"I repeat that I am against abortion and I have a different manifesto addressing issues related to my constituency - Italians who are living outside Italy. I am in this coalition just because of the way the Italian electoral law is at present. I am contesting as a candidate of the Italian Greens who are together with other parties in Sinistra Arcobaleno."

Prof. Cassola said he would vote against proposals to extend abortion rights if they were put forward by his party in the Italian chamber.

The Sinistra l'Arcobaleno political formation is largely made up of left-wing parties, namely the Communists (Partito della Rifondazione Communista and Partiti dei Communisti Italiani) and the Greens.

Prof. Cassola's name is the first on the list (capolista) of the Sinistra Arcobaleno coalition in the European district, meaning that if the alliance obtains the necessary number of votes, he will be the first to be elected to the Italian chamber.

The Alternattiva official, who narrowly missed out on being elected a Maltese MEP in the 2004 European Parliament elections, became an Italian MP two years when he was elected on the same district in a wider left-wing political alliance headed by Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

However, this time Prof. Cassola's election will be harder as the main party in the former centre-left alliance, the Democratic Left (Democratici di Sinistra) headed by Rome's mayor Walter Veltroni decided to go it alone and abandon the radical left wing parties now included in the Sinistra Arcobaleno.

Prof. Cassola's companions in the new political alliance include some notorious figures such as Francesco Caruso, former activist of the Social Forums (extreme left) and Vladimir Luxuria, the first transsexual to be elected in the Italian chamber. Nevertheless, the coalition still includes well-respected names such as Fausto Bertinotti, leader of the Communists and currently Italy's senate President and Rita Borsellino, widow of the judge murdered by the Mafia.