Italy to Hold Elections in April

Maybe you’re reading this from someplace in the United States, and you’re overwhelmed enough with the upcoming US election – but I’m here to tell you that you’re not the only one with an election looming. Most of the news coming out of Italy these days it about last month’s collapse of the Italian government, the subsequent inability of what remained of Parliament to put together an interim government in order to fix what’s widely thought of as a problematic election law, and the recent declaration by Italy’s president that he was left with no choice but to dissolve Parliament entirely and schedule new elections for mid-April.

And you thought all the election mail and phone calls you’ve been receiving were bad.

While my upcoming trip to Italy will not overlap with the actual elections (scheduled for April 13-14), I will be there for much of the campaigning that will most certainly be taking place throughout the country. As I’ve said before, Italian politics are incredibly confusing (at best), so I don’t think that even six weeks in the country before an election will get me to a place from which I can explain what the hell’s going on with any measure of confidence – but I think being there for the campaigning will be very interesting nonetheless. Along with my posts about traveling through Italy, I will hopefully be able to write some posts about the upcoming elections as well.

In the meantime, if you want to read more about what led to the elections being held two years early, here’s a selection of articles I’ve read over the past few weeks.

Berlusconi moves to force election in Italy
Italy looks for a new leader – or a new system
Embracing reforms is a vote for Italy’s future
Italy president seeks interim government
Berlusconi rejects electoral reform proposal
The return of Berlusconi, the “brutta figura”
Italy moves closer to early election
Snap vote likely as interim government plan fails
Italy sets early elections for April
Silvio Berlusconi does not deserve another chance of power in Italy
Berlusconi proposes single party for Italy’s elections
Berlusconi kicks off election campaign
Send for Mr. Nice Guy – is Walter Veltroni Italy’s Barack Obama?