
© CNNPier Luigi Bersani, leader of Italy's Democratic Party, said he would keep outgoing premier Mario Monti's austerity reforms, but says stimulus is needed to boost the country's flagging economy.
The man expected to become Italy's next prime minister won't pound the bully pulpit like Silvio Berlusconi. He won't claim to be the Jesus Christ of politics, or praise Barack Obama's "tan", and it's highly unlikely you'll bump into him at an all-night bunga bunga party.
No, Pier Luigi Bersani is seen as a safe pair of hands -- and now, after a lifetime in politics, the 61-year-old leader of the center-left Democratic Party is hoping to hang on to a lead in the polls that bombastic three-time former premier Berlusconi had all but wiped out in the dying days of the campaign.
A cigar-puffing ex-communist and pillar of the Italian left, Bersani campaigned on the promise of "A Just Italy" -- but as he knows, it will take far more than words to fix Europe's
fourth-largest economy.
Italy in crisisFrom top to bottom, Italy is a mess. Berlusconi, its last elected prime minister, quit in disgrace in 2011 and is
now on trial for allegedly paying for sex with an underage girl. Italy has the
third highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the first world, and
only Haiti and Zimbabwe grew less from 2000 to 2010.
Italy ranks
72nd in corruption -- behind Ghana and Saudi Arabia -- and at an estimated €140 billion euros in yearly turnover, organized crime is the country's biggest industry, according to one
business association report. Italy ranks a woeful 73rd in the
Ease of Doing Business index, 80th in
gender equality, and income equality is growing.
Mario Monti, who was appointed to run the country after Berlusconi's departure, has forced through a bitter package of cost-cutting measures to save the country from financial ruin, snuffing out any hope of short-term growth. Italy's economy has shrunk for a staggering
six straight quarters, and its 11.2% unemployment rate is the highest since they began keeping records in 1999.
And while Monti may have some say in the new Italian government, it is career politician Bersani who will bear the burden of pulling Italy out of the mire.
Comment: It seems nothing can keep a psychopath from grabbing and holding onto power:
Silvio Berlusconi hit by drug allegations as well as sex claims
Italy: Berlusconi Resigns, Crowds in Rome Celebrate
Berlusconi says 'I am like Jesus'
Get out of jail free: Silvio Berlusconi sentenced to four years in jail for tax fraud - but will serve none