(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Italy’s governing coalition of right-leaning parties continues to hold high popular support, according to a poll by Digis. 51 per cent of respondents would vote for the Italian People of Freedom Party (PdL), the Northern League (LN), The Autonomy (MPA-Pensioners-Alliance of Centre), and The Right in the next legislative election, unchanged since January.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Italy’s governing coalition of right-leaning parties continues to hold high popular support, according to a poll by Digis. 51 per cent of respondents would vote for the Italian People of Freedom Party (PdL), the Northern League (LN), The Autonomy (MPA-Pensioners-Alliance of Centre), and The Right in the next legislative election, unchanged since January.
The opposition centre-left alliance comprising the Democratic Party (PD) and Italy of Values (Lista di Pietro) is second with 35.1 per cent. Support is much lower for the Union of the Centre, the Left Refoundation (RpS), Left and Freedom (SeL), and the Radicals (R).
Italian voters renewed the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in April 2008. Final results gave Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing coalition 344 seats in the lower house, and 174 seats in the upper house. The victory put an end to the government of the centre-left Union (Unione), headed by Romano Prodi.
Berlusconi was sworn in as the country’s new head of government in May 2008. He had previously served as prime minister from May 1994 to January 1995, and from June 2001 to May 2006.
On Feb. 10, PdL lawmakers pushed through legislation that will effectively ban political content on the country’s most popular talk shows ahead of regional elections in March. The pro-government party claimed that the move will ensure neutrality ahead of the ballot. The rules will be in place from Feb. 28 to Mar. 28, election day.
DP lawmaker Fabrizio Morri accused his PdL colleagues of voting "for the suppression of journalistic analysis," adding, "This sort of censorship wouldn’t happen in a proper democratic country. I doubt very much whether the communications watchdog will cancel Matrix or any other of Mediaset’s political shows."
Berlusconi owns Mediaset.
Polling Data
If a new election to the Chamber of Deputies took place, which party would you vote for?
|
|
Feb. 6 |
Jan. 10 |
Nov. 7 |
|
Italian People of Freedom Party (PdL) / |
51.0% |
51.0% |
50.1% |
|
Democratic Party (PD) / |
35.1% |
36.0% |
36.8% |
|
Union of the Centre |
6.3% |
7.0% |
7.2% |
|
Left Refoundation (RpS) |
2.2% |
2.0% |
3.0% |
|
Left and Freedom (SeL) |
2.4% |
1.5% |
1.3% |
|
Radicals (R) |
1.0% |
1.3% |
0.5% |
|
Other parties |
2.0% |
1.2% |
1.1% |
Source: Digis
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 Italian adults, conducted on Feb. 5 and Feb. 6, 2010. No margin of error was provided.
