The Observer Italy is in turmoil over an election that has mutated into an unprecedented contest between Silvio Berlusconi and the international media. Condemnation of the centre-right opposition leader has swelled to a cacophony, which could prove decisive at the polls next Sunday. Berlusconi has hit back with accusations of a foreign plot orchestrated by business rivals, leaving voters deafened and the ruling centre-left all but forgotten. Newspapers and magazines from Britain, Germany, Spain and the United States have sailed into uncharted water with a combined assault that could determine who rules the world's sixth-largest industrialised economy. Issues such as jobs, crime and illegal immigration have faded as the tycoon has launched counter-attacks, beseeching Italians not to believe character assassins.
Analysts say the outcry is likely to sway a significant number of voters.
Pollsters are struggling to calculate the impact. Francesco Rutelli, the government's candidate for Prime Minister, is euphoric. He hailed the foreign intervention as the 'real turning point' of the campaign. They have hammered him for a slew of corruption allegations that tainted his rise to becoming the world's 14 richest man, according to Forbes magazine. Why Silvio Berlusconi is unfit to lead Italy,' said the headline in the Economist, which Berlusconi is suing.