Italy set for early election, Berlusconi ahead

By Silvia Aloisi

ROME (Reuters) - Italy faces an election by mid-April which could return media magnate Silvio Berlusconi to power after he blocked attempts to form an interim government.

President Giorgio Napolitano summoned the speakers of both houses of parliament on Tuesday and is expected to dissolve parliament by Wednesday. By law, he would then have to call an election within 70 days.

April 13 is seen as the most likely poll date, just two years after Romano Prodi narrowly beat Berlusconi in the last election.

"Here we go: to the polls," read the front cover of daily Il Giornale, owned by Berlusconi's brother Paolo.

Italy plunged into crisis after Prime Minister Prodi was forced to quit last month by defections in his centre-left coalition.

Reluctant to send Italians back to the polls, Napolitano asked the speaker of the Senate (upper house), Franco Marini, to see if he could muster enough support for a temporary government to reform the electoral system.

But Berlusconi, 71, sensing a return to the post of prime minister he has held twice before, demanded a snap election.

After four days of talks with political leaders, Marini told Napolitano on Monday he had failed to find a majority backing an interim administration.