Mario Monti, who recently resigned as the head of Italy’s technocratic government, said he would lead a centrist coalition to fight the former right wing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his allies in the February 2013 general election.
This will pit Mr. Monti, Head of a 400-day technocratic government, against two other political fronts — the first headed by Mr. Berlusconi and the second a coalition of leftist parties known as the PD or the Democratic left.
Usual game of politics
Mr. Monti said his alliance would attempt to move away from the usual game of politics in Italy where parties work against one other to grab power rather than for the general public good.
The former Prime Minister said his electoral proposals would include anti-corruption measures and electoral reform.
“The traditional left-right split has historic and symbolic value” for the country, but “it does not highlight the real alliance that Italy needs — one that focuses on Europe and reforms”, said Mr. Monti at a press conference.
While he is popular with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other financial institutions and European governments for setting Italy back on track on economic health, his austerity measures have cut deep and hit hard and he is not popular with the less privileged and the poor in Italy.
