Berlusconi polls signal ‘Italian Spring’

THEY are calling it the Italian Spring.

After Silvio Berlusconi’s long years in power, the electorate rose up and said they had enough of the prime minister, overturning laws passed by his government to revive nuclear energy, privatise the water supply and help him avoid prosecution.

The defeat was Berlusconi’s second in as many weeks after losing key local races in his Milan power base and Naples and raised the question, would he go swiftly or try to hang on as others are doing?