Event: presenter on Rai’s RadioDue tells voters to rip up their voting papers and throw them in the bin. Bad because: presenters on public service broadcasters shouldn’t be making political statements. Good because: at least he’s not beholden to a party.
Over the past week, the coalitions which will compete in April’s elections have become clearer. On the left, agreement has been reached between the Partito Democratico and Italia dei Valori [IdV]. The two have promised to run together in 2008 with separate symbols but a common prime-ministerial candidate; after the election, they intend to merge. [...]
Forty years ago it really was different. There were only three networks, and none of them were known for challenging or high-minded programming. Indeed, public broadcasting came into being out of collective despair over what had become of the airwaves. Cable has changed all that. There are not only countless more channels to chose from [...]
A fe w more polls have been released, giving a clearer, if relatively consistent picture of the strengths of the coalitions competing in the Italian election. The main sources of movement are not movements in public opinion, but rather movements in coalition formation. It seems more likely now that the left will be split neatly [...]
Former SVT CEO Christina Jutterström has suggested that SR and SVT should be merged, arguing that separate radio and television companies are an anachronism in the modern age. Current SVT CEO Eva Hamilton says it’s a “political question” , which is a polite way of saying that SVT is interested; SR CEO Kerstin Brunnberg rejects [...]
Excellent editorial by Ilvo Diamanti in today’s Repubblica, which really catches the novelty of this electoral campaign: For the first time since 1994, we are witnessing a change of tendencies: a change from the coalition to the party, or, at least, to the common list…. The push made by the Partito Democratico has produced deeper [...]
The Prodi government’s several headaches stemmed from its slender majority in the Senate, where, according to the 2005 electoral system, regional premia make it harder for a nationwide coalition to build a strong majority. In 2006, the left lost out: as its commanding national leader withered in the heat of the campaign, it lost a [...]
The seat-share estimates given by SWG, which suggest that the centre-right would win 176 seats, seem slightly optimistic. They give more seats to the centre-right than they would win if we assume a uniform national swing of 5.15% and a 9:33 split between the radical left and the centre left. Here’s how I worked it [...]
Now that the two chambers of Parliament have been dissolved and the election called for the 13th and 14th April, we can expect more polling to be carried out. There have been five vote intention polls published on www.sondaggipoliticoelettorali.it/ since the beginning of January. They do indeed show a big lead for Berlusconi, as has [...]
The fall of the Prodi government was disappointing, but entirely predictable. The aim of lasting for the entire legislative term (5 years) was unrealistic, with less than a 2% chance of success. Conversely, it was 95% certain that the government would fall sometime between September 2007 and May 2009; the most likely date was sometime [...]