Italian President Dissolves Parliament

Caretaker Prime Minister Romano Prodi will hold a cabinet meeting Wednesday to formally decide the date of the election.

It is widely expected to take place in mid-April, only two years after the previous vote. The election must be held within 70 days of the dissolution of parliament.

Italy plunged into the latest political crisis last month after a small party withdrew from Mr. Prodi's center-left coalition, causing the government to fall.

The president and many political leaders had supported creation of a short-term government to change voting rules before holding new elections, but Mr. Prodi's rivals, opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi and other center-right party leaders, rejected the idea.

Voter surveys showed that a center-right coalition would win the elections if they were held now.

A center-right victory would return Mr. Berlusconi to the post of prime minister for the third time. He narrowly lost to Mr. Prodi in the 2006 election.

Source: By VOA News