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title: "Italian General Elections - 2006"
content-type: article
timestamp: 1144560780
tags: "italy|politics"
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<p style="float:right;"><img src="http://www.berluscastop.it/v_imag/sodom1.gif" alt="" /></p>
<p>Another five years have passed and here we go again: General Elections time!<br />
	Today and tomorrow Italy <del>must</del> should vote for a new government, and the choice is <em>again</em> between
	two main contenders to the Prime Minister's <del>throne</del> chair:</p>
<p>- <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/299254.stm">Romano Prodi</a><br />
	- <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3034600.stm">Silvio Berlusconi</a></p>
<p>Just today I was reading an interesting article titled <a
		href="http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,409538,00.html"><em>&#8216;The End of
			Silvio's Show?'</em></a> in which the author examines the possibility that Berlusconi's five years of subtle
	pseudo-dictatorship may end in favour the former president of European Commission Romano Prodi.</p>
<p><em>Who are they?</em></p>
<h3>Silvio Berlusconi</h3>
<img src="http://www.consapevolezza.it/notizie/gen-mar-2002/imgs/berlusconi_corna_5.jpg" alt="" />
<p>I can't imagine someone asking this question, at least I can't think of anyone who doesn't know Silvio Berlusconi as
	the icon of the latest <em>national oddity</em>. <br />
	Forthose who need their memory refreshed, here's a small collection of links featuring him:</p>
<ul>
	<li><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3034600.stm"><span class="caps">BBC</span> <span
				class="caps">NEWS</span> Profile</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi">Wikipedia Page</a> about him</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=587107">An Italian Story</a> &#8211; An article
		written in 2001 published by the Economist, <em>before</em> he was elected Prime Minister</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=593654">Fit to run Italy?</a> &#8211; Another
		article by the Economists explaining why Berlusconi should <em>not</em> lead the Italian Government</li>
	<li><a href="http://grabbyeducational.blogspot.com/">Meglio coglioni che mafiosi</a> &#8211; Italian blog against
		Berlusconi (warning: profanity).</li>
	<li><a href="http://www.geocities.com/basta2006/">Basta 2006 &#8211; Geocities</a> &#8211; a comprehensive directory
		of websites dedicated to Berlusconi, a really good resource.</li>
</ul>
<p>There are millions more. In particular, I'd like to add one more: <a
		href="http://www.consapevolezza.it/notizie/gen-mar-2002/impero_berlusconi.asp">The Empire of Silvio
		Berlusconi</a>, which features an image taken from an Italian magazine listing (roughly) everything owned (the
	image is dated 2002) by our current (for now) Prime Minister, such as:</p>
<ul>
	<li>Mediaset Television (100%) &#8211; which includes three national channels</li>
	<li>Medusa Film (100%) &#8211; Movie productions</li>
	<li>Milan A.C. (99%) &#8211; Football team</li>
	<li>Edilnord (63%) &#8211; Real Estate</li>
	<li>Blockbuster (51%) &#8211; Video retal shops</li>
	<li>Mondadori Spa (48%) &#8211; Biggest Italian editorial company</li>
	<li>Mediolanum (35.5%) &#8211; Financial sociaty &#8211; banks, insurances etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>Nice, isn't it? Of course he had to give those societies to some trusted administrators before becoming Prime
	Minister&#8230; but let's not talk about this&#8230;</p>
<h3>Romano Prodi</h3>
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/04/Prodi.jpg/200px-Prodi.jpg" alt="" />
<p>Perhaps not as well known abroad as Silvio, but was recently the President of the European Commission for a while.
	Here are some (more serious) links about him:</p>
<ul>
	<li><a href="http://europa.eu.int/comm/archives/commission_1999_2004/prodi/index_en.htm">European Commission
			Archives</a></li>
	<li><a
			href="http://www.eitb24.com/portal/eitb24/noticia/en/international-news/centre-left-candidate--profile-of-romano-prodi-?itemId=D23503&amp;cl=%2Feitb24%2Finternacional&amp;idioma=en">eitb24's
			profile of Romano Prodi</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/romano-prodi">Answers.com on Romano Prodi</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/romano_prodi/index.html?inline=nyt-per">New
			York Times archives about Romano Prodi</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Known as &#8220;The Professor&#8221; for his education&#8230;</p>
<blockquote>
	<p><em>&#8220;He graduated in economics at Milan's Catholic University in 1961 and did postgraduate studies at the
			London School of Economics. He also spent a year as visiting professor at Harvard in 1974&#8221;</em><br />
		<em>(<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/299254.stm">Prodi's <span class="caps">BBC</span>
				profile</a>)</em>
	</p>
</blockquote>
<p>&#8230;Romano Prodi is the candidate proposed by the current Italian opposition, grouping roughly all the center-left
	parties. He's the one who pushed Italy &#8211; as President of the European Commission &#8211; to accept the Euro as
	new currency, back in the day, and also the one who was blamed for than after a few months when the <em>Euro
		effect</em> occurred: prices went higher and didn't seem to be an <em>exact conversion</em> from Lire to Euro.
	He was chubby enough (&#8220;mortadella&#8221; is one of his most recurring nicknames) to be quickly appointed as
	scapegoat for the unpleasant situation.</p>
<p style="float:left;"><img src="http://www.dsmirandola.it/sg/img/berlusconi_corna.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Besides that, if someone asks me what's the difference between the two candidates, I'll answer: one is a politician
	and devoted all his life to Politics, while the other partly devoted only the last 10-years-or-so to politics
	because it seemed to be <em>a cool and worthwhile investment</em>&#8230;</p>
<h3>Who am going to vote?</h3>
<p>Well, one thing is sure: I don't want Silvio to win again, I don't want Italy to be publicly ridicolized abroad all
	the time that muppet opens his mouth or simply does something <em>he</em> thinks is funny&#8230;</p>