Respite From Politics for Soccer-Mad Italy

ã Respite From Politics for Soccer-Mad Italy

By Jane Barrett

ROME (Reuters) - After a long and bitter general election campaign, Italians enjoyed a day of respite from politics on Saturday on the eve of the vote, many focusing their attention instead on their national obsession -- soccer.

Official campaigning in the election, which pits a center-right alliance under media magnate Silvio Berlusconi against a center-left bloc led by ex-Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli, officially closed at midnight on Friday.

Italian law forbids any campaigning or political comments from politicians the day before an election.

Berlusconi, the narrow favorite, and Rutelli both battled in the last lap of the campaign with impassioned pleas at rallies and on television for undecided voters to get out and vote in what is believed to be the tightest race in years.

Berlusconi, currently in opposition, has portrayed himself as a self-made man who can enable other Italians to get rich quick too. Rutelli has set himself up as a defender of the poor against what he depicts as his rival's unbridled capitalism.

In an interview in Germany's Die Welt newspaper on Saturday, Berlusconi, 64, compared himself to sixth century Roman Emperor Justinian and French Emperor Napoleon -- both radical legislators who brought in their own legal codes.

``I am determined to smash the thicket of 100,000 contradictory laws that stifle every initiative. In my small measure, I will be Justinian or Napoleon,'' he said.

SOCCER BOOST FOR BERLUSCONI

But many Italians had more down-to-earth things to think about -- like end-of-season soccer matches. Asked if she would be voting for Berlusconi or Rutelli on Sunday, Rome fan Lucia Melandri told a reporter: ``I've got to see Roma.''

``I'm going to be late but I hope Rutelli wins,'' she said as she rushed away to the city's Olympic Stadium for a showdown match between AS Roma and Atalanta Bergamo. Roma is in line for its first league title in 18 years.

Billionaire businessman Berlusconi received his own pre-election soccer prize on Friday night when the club he owns, AC Milan, thrashed their local rivals Inter Milan 6-0.

``6-0 was too much. I feel sorry for my friend Moratti,'' Berlusconi said, referring to Inter president Massimo Moratti.

But the AC Milan win could not have come at a sweeter moment for Berlusconi as he and his center-right allies whipped up final support at a closing rally in Rome's central Piazza del Popolo on Friday night.

Leaping up and down, his supporters chanted ``Whoever's not jumping is a communist.''

Berlusconi has been dogged during the campaign over the conflict between his potential political power and his business interests which range from mainstream national television stations to banking, making him worth about $11 billion.

He has also been irritated by references to the trials he has faced for bribery and illegal party financing -- charges on which he was acquitted on appeal. He still faces two trials for bribery and false accounting, which he has repeatedly denied.

Rutelli, on the other hand, although telegenic and youthful at 46, has been accused by the right of being little more than a puppet of the left. The Democrats party he belongs to is one of the smallest in the eight-party center-left coalition.

Berlusconi says his rival is no leader and will be unable to keep his disunited alliance from bickering among themselves.

E***orial writers urged Italians on Saturday to think before ticking a box to avoid an indecisive result, perpetuating Italy's long history of ``revolving door'' governments. The next government will be Italy's 59th since 1945.

To govern Italy, an alliance must control both the lower and upper houses of parliament. If they fail to do that, the country faces either desperate coalition-building or the prospect of new elections next year.