By Xinhua
Rome : Italian President Giorgio Napolitano began on Tuesday procedures to dissolve parliament and set the country on the path to general elections, according to Italian News Agency ANSA.
In line with constitutional rules on the closure of a legislature, the head of state summoned the speakers of the Lower House and Senate to see him in the Quirinal Palace in the early evening on Tuesday.
Napolitano’s official announcement of dissolving parliament and closing the second shortest legislature in the history of the republic, which lasted 648 days, was expected on Wednesday.
At that point it will be up to the center-left government of Romano Prodi, in its caretaker capacity, to decide on the date of elections.
Most analysts expect the date will be April 13-14, a choice which would allow national elections to coincide with administrative ones in many parts of the country.
The moves to prepare for elections became inevitable after an attempt by Senate Speaker Franco Marini to drum up support for an interim government was steadfastly rejected by center-right parties.
Napolitano had wanted parties to support a short-term government which would reform the electoral law and possibly make other institutional reforms.
But the center-right, led by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, said there was no need for a new electoral system to replace the one it pushed through parliament seven months before the 2006 elections.
According to most polls, a center-right alliance led by Berlusconi, who is aiming to become premier for the third time, is likely to win the elections handsomely.
The system under which Italians now look set to vote uses proportional representation and blocked lists of candidates who are allocated their seats in parliament by the parties.
Several analysts and center-left politicians say the system has worsened the fragmentation of Italian politics and was a factor in the chronic instability of the collapsed government of Romano Prodi.
Napolitano wanted the rules changed so as to ensure that similar instability would not hobble the next government.
Berlusconi has said he is willing to engage in dialogue on electoral reform after the elections, which he is expected to win.