ROME — A game of smoke and mirrors: this is how Italy's current electoral campaign appears — both to Italians and the wider world. Of course, there is nothing new in this:
Italy's political dynamics have always baffled participants and observers alike. That a small centrist party may now get the courts to postpone the election merely adds to the usual confusion.
But one thing that seems certain this time is the likely result. Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of the rightwing alliance, will win his third election (he has also lost twice), while the vote for the Senate is expected to produce a draw. In this case, Berlusconi's forces could ally themselves with Pier Ferdinando Casini's centrist Catholic party, or work to form a coalition with their center-left adversary, the Democratic Party, led by Walter Veltroni.