Veltroni shakes-up Italian politics

On Sunday, February 10th, Walter Veltroni, leader of the Democratic Party (PD, centre-left), launched his campaign for Prime Minister in the lead-up to legislative elections expected on April 13-14. For Marc Lazar, "the 2008 elections will not resemble previous ones, and may be the signal of the start of normalisation in Italy, after a decade of rather chaotic transition. The promised change is due to the birth of the Democratic Party. ... [Veltroni's] victorious election as leader of the Democratic Party on October 14 bought him popular legitimacy. Walter Veltroni took advantage of this situation to build up the stature of a responsible leader, new, relatively young (even though he's been involved in politics for a long time) and hungry to speak directly with the people. ... Veltroni has clearly confirmed his desire to avoid centring the identity of the new party on anti-Berlusconism."

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