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Sat 07 Jul 2010Berlusconi splits with major ally in coalition
ITALIAN PRIME minister Silvio Berlusconi this weekend faces a major political crisis and the possibility of an early general election following a seemingly irrevocable break with his long-time political ally Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house of parliament.
Months of ever more public tensions and disagreements between Mr Fini and the prime minister came to a head on Thursday night when Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party (PDL) formally expelled Mr Fini, with the prime minister accusing his former ally of adopting “an attitude of permanent opposition to us in harmony with the left”.
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