Italy's Parliament Is Dissolved Under Pressure

ROME — President Napolitano of Italy dissolved parliament yesterday, opening the way for elections three years ahead of schedule that opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi is favored to win.

The vote will be held April 13–14, Transport Minister Alessandro Bianchi said yesterday after a Cabinet meeting in Rome. The early election is a result of the collapse of Prime Minister Prodi's government, the 61st since World War II, on January 24 after 20 months in power. Mr. Prodi is now caretaker premier.

Mr. Berlusconi, 71, who was twice elected prime minister as head of the Forza Italia Party, is the front-runner in opinion polls. His rival, Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, 52, head of the newly formed Democratic Party, trails by about 10 percentage points. Mr. Berlusconi forced Mr. Napolitano to close parliament by rejecting the president's plea to back an interim government to revamp the country's electoral law, which currently boosts the power of small parties and increases political instability.

"Berlusconi wants to cash in on an expected victory," a politics professor at the University of Florence and a specialist on electoral systems, Roberto D'Alimonte, said. Mr. Prodi, a member of Mr. Veltroni's party, isn't seeking re-election.