May 17, 2005 - 11:20 AM

Berlusconi wins "resurrection" in Sicily election

By Robin Pomeroy

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition won a crucial local election in Sicily on Tuesday, saving him from possible political collapse after a string of damaging ballot-box defeats.

In a surprise result, Berlusconi's candidate, Umberto Scapagnini, beat the opposition to remain mayor of Catania, the southern island's second city and the most significant of 38 mayoral seats that were up for grabs at a vote on Sunday and Monday.

If Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy) party had lost Catania -- as many pundits predicted -- he may have been forced to resign by coalition allies who had begun to see him as an electoral liability after four years in power.

Corriere della Sera said the Catania election was a political "resurrection" for Berlusconi. "For his leadership, it was the most important victory since 2001," Italy's leading daily said in an editorial.

With almost all the votes counted, Scapagnini held 52.2 percent of the vote against 45.7 percent for the challenger representing the centre-left alliance headed by former European Commission President Romano Prodi.

Prodi's coalition won the other significant seat being contested, in nearby Enna, where Berlusconi's House of Freedoms coalition was split and two parties fielded candidates.

The vote was the last in a series of local elections over recent weeks where Berlusconi's coalition has been battered by Italians angry at the state of the economy which plunged into recession this year.

FIGHTER

In a much bigger poll last month, the government coalition lost 12 out of 14 regional governments at stake, leading coalition allies to force Berlusconi to resign and form a new government to show Italians he took their concerns seriously.

Since then media have speculated over how much longer he can remain leader of the centre-right.

But the Catania result has proved Berlusconi can still win and it may ease coalition divisions in the run-up to a general election next spring which opinion polls have suggested he is likely to lose.

The media tycoon is likely to make much of the fact that he spent two days in the town that lies at the foot of Mount Etna campaigning alongside the mayor who is also his personal doctor, exposing himself to a high political risk.

"Berlusconi should not be underestimated," said Vannino Chiti, a member of parliament from Italy's biggest opposition party, the Democrats of the Left (DS). "He's a fighter."

The opposition took comfort in improving its showing in areas of Sicily which is a heartland for the centre-right and said Berlusconi was still on his way out of power.

"One swallow does not make a spring and one victory for the centre-right in Catania cannot turn around the trend," said Piero Fassino, leader of the DS.

In 2001, when Berlusconi swept to power promising Italians a new economic miracle, Forza Italia won all 61 of Sicily's parliamentary seats.

Since then, the party's popularity nationally has waned to 18 percent from 30 percent as the government has failed to spur economic growth which has underperformed the European Union average for most of the last decade.