ROME, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Pier Luigi Bersani is in pole
position to become Italy’s next leader after winning a centre
left primary vote, but the former communist must now convince
nervous markets and conservative voters he won’t drag the
country too far to the left.

Bersani, 61, crushed a challenge from Matteo Renzi, the
youthful mayor of Florence, in a run off primary election on
Sunday to choose the centre-left candidate for a national vote
next spring. He won more than 60 percent to Renzi’s 39 percent,
taking every region except the challenger’s Tuscan home turf.

ROME (Reuters) – Five years after he won one of Italy’s biggest postwar election victories, Silvio Berlusconi is dragging his own party towards destruction by a mixture of indecision and refusal to withdraw gracefully.

The man who triumphantly dominated Italian politics for 17-years before he was humiliatingly driven from power a year ago, is in steep decline, beset on all sides by problems ranging from his business empire to his scandal-plagued personal life.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s centre-left votes on Sunday for a candidate who will become front runner to succeed Mario Monti as prime minister after a general election next spring.

There are five candidates in the primary election but in reality the vote will pit Democratic Party (PD) leader Pier Luigi Bersani against youthful Florence mayor Matteo Renzi for leadership of an alliance which is well ahead in opinion polls.

ROME (Reuters) – Openly gay, devoutly Catholic, left-wing and an enemy of the mafia, Rosario Crocetta broke the mould when he was elected governor of deeply conservative Sicily last month.

The island has long been better known for its machismo, corruption and homicidal mafia dons than progressive politics, but the chain-smoking former communist says he will bring a “revolution” after winning a regional election.

ROME (Reuters) – Openly gay, devoutly Catholic, left-wing and an enemy of the mafia, Rosario Crocetta broke the mould when he was elected governor of deeply conservative Sicily last month.

The island has long been better known for its machismo, corruption and homicidal mafia dons than progressive politics, but the chain-smoking former communist says he will bring a “revolution” after winning a regional election.

ROME (Reuters) – Five months before an election that will be crucial not just for this country but the whole euro zone, Italy is mired in some of its greatest political uncertainty since World War Two.

Nobody knows what electoral system will be used or who the candidates will be in a parliamentary poll that will be marked by Italian voter anger over the pain of austerity.

ROME, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Five months before an election that
will be crucial not just for this country but the whole euro
zone, Italy is mired in some of its greatest political
uncertainty si n ce World War Two.

Nobody knows what electoral system will be used or who the
candidates will be in a parliamentary poll that will be marked
by Italian voter anger over the pain of austerity.

ROME, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Former Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi has returned to the political frontline after months
in the shadows, vowing to abolish a key tax on homes in remarks
likely to stoke investors’ jitters about Italy’s future after an
election next spring.

But the 75-year-old media magnate is keeping Italy guessing
about whether he will stand for prime minister at the head of
his centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party in the election.

CERNOBBIO, Italy (Reuters) – Business leaders and European officials cloistered in a beautiful lakeside resort over the weekend were in striking agreement about who should follow Mario Monti as Italian premier: Mario Monti.

Uncertainty about what will follow Monti’s technocrat government after elections next spring is worrying investors, who fear a new government led by elected politicians will try to tear up the painful reforms that have restored Italy’s credibility under Monti.

CERNOBBIO/BARI, Italy (Reuters) – Italian business leaders expressed palpable relief on Friday at the European Central Bank’s bold plan to buy bonds of debt-laden euro zone states like Italy but they warned the region’s crisis was not over and pressure was now on governments to take action.

Bankers and other businessmen attending a high level conference on the shores of Lake Como all praised the ECB’s move, but concerns were clear about Europe’s political will to overcome the debt crisis and particularly at the deep uncertainty surrounding the next Italian government.