ROME (AFP) – Umberto Bossi, a key ally of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, called on Thursday for elections to be held “as soon as possible”, suggesting a date in late November or early December.

“It's not possible to continue in the current conditions, the march towards elections is impossible to stop,” the leader of the Northern League, Berlusconi's chief coalition partner, told Italian media.
Italy has been gripped by political uncertainty since the end of July, when Berlusconi lost his once-comfortable parliamentary majority after lower house speaker Gianfranco Fini ended a 16-year alliance, leaving the prime minister's People of Freedom (PDL) party.
Last week, President Giorgio Napolitano warned against snap elections, saying they could hamper the economic recovery.
Should Berlusconi lose a confidence vote slated for September, he and his government would resign and Napolitano would poll parliament group leaders and see if there is the possibility and willingness to form a transition government.
If no government can be formed, Napolitano is expected to dissolve both branches of parliament, at which point elections would be called.
Bossi also repeated calls for Fini's resignation from his post as speaker -- a move he has resisted -- saying this would be “a fundamental gesture” to prevent elections.