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By Phil Stewart
ROME Jan 28 Allies of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi pressed Italy's president on Monday to call a snap election that opinion polls say would return the conservative billionaire to power.
President Giorgio Napolitano held the third of four days of crisis talks with political leaders aimed at filling the power vacuum created when left-leaning Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigned last week after just 20 months in office.
"We asked the president of the Republic to dissolve parliament and call early elections," said Roberto Maroni of the right-wing Northern League party, after talks with Napolitano.
Gianfranco Fini, head of National Alliance, the second largest party on the centre right, said he had told Napolitano it was time "to let the voters decide".
Napolitano, an 82-year-old former communist, is known to favour revising electoral laws blamed for creating political instability before sending Italians back to the polls. He could appoint an interim government if there were cross-party agreement, an option favoured by Prodi's weakened centre-left. Italian media have tipped Senate President Franco Marini as a potential head of such a government.
But Berlusconi has threatened to draw millions of protesters to the streets of Rome if Napolitano refuses to call a vote, something that one leftist leader on Monday called "disturbing, intimidation" tactics.
"ON ITS KNEES"
The centrist UDC was the only party close to Berlusconi's centre right to call for an interim government to heal the country's deep divisions, saying Italy was "on its knees". But if no consensus was reached, then voters should head to the polls quickly, it said.
The deadlock is likely to force Napolitano to call elections, which a large number of Italians appear to favour. A vote could be held as early as April.
Berlusconi is not due to meet Napolitano until Tuesday morning, but has already started campaigning. His platform -- including tax cuts and a crackdown on crime -- was splashed on the front page of Il Giornale daily, owned by his brother.
Napolitano is expected to announce a decision on Tuesday or Wednesday.
A poll published over the weekend in Corriere della Sera newspaper showed 61 percent of Italians want an early election and only 33 percent prefer some form of transitional government.
Polls also showed the centre left would take 42.4 to 45 percent of the vote with Berlusconi's centre right on 54.5 to 57.6 percent.
"The winner (from the deadlock) is Silvio Berlusconi, the leader who for the last year-and-a-half has called for parliament to be dissolved," wrote columnist Sergio Romano in Monday's Corriere.
He said elections, while perhaps unappealing to Napolitano, would at least resolve the crisis quickly.
Italy's centre left, ranging from Catholics to communists, has been riven by deep policy divisions and personal rivalries, and their fear of facing an election soon is palpable.
Prodi has said he is not willing to lead a new government. Walter Veltroni, Rome's popular mayor, is widely tipped as the next candidate for the centre left in an eventual election. (Writing by Phil Stewart; Editing by Keith Weir)
Nach der Niederlage des italienischen Ministerpräsidenten Romano Prodi bei der Vertrauensfrage fordern einige 
Oppositionsparteien in Italien rasche Neuwahlen.

Allen voran Silvio Berlusconi, der Vorgänger Prodis. Er sagte, Italien befände sich in einer „verzweifelten Lage“, und lehnte die Ernennung einer Übergangsregierung ab. Damit wollte Staatspräsident Giorgio Napolitano die Regierungskrise lösen.

Berlusconi kündigte bereits Massenproteste an, sollte der Präsident eine Übergangsregierung ernennen. Seine Forderungen werden auch von den Parteien Lega Nord und Alleanza Nazionale unterstützt. Diese Parteien wie auch Berlusconis Forza Italia können dem Mitte-Rechts-Bündnis Casa delle Libertà zugeordnet werden.

Laut einer Umfrage des Corriere della Sera könnte Berlusconis Mitte-Rechts-Bündnis ungefähr 55 bis 58 Prozent der Stimmen erwarten und würde die Wahl damit gewinnen. Corriere-Kolumnist Sergio Romano nannte ihn daher „Sieger der blockierten Situation“. In der gleichen Umfrage sprachen sich überhaupt nur 33 Prozent der Befragten gegen die Neuwahlen aus, während 61 Prozent dafür waren.

Die Entscheidung des Präsidenten wird diesen Dienstag oder Mittwoch erwartet.