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He had successfully fused his own party with that of the formerly neo-fascist Gianfranco Fini to create a single movement of the right, the People of Freedom (PdL).
ECONOMIST: Italy's beleaguered prime minister
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Even if the president did plump for an election, the polls suggest Mr Berlusconi would free himself of Mr Fini only to become a prisoner of the Northern League's leader, Umberto Bossi.
ECONOMIST: Italy's beleaguered prime minister
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But he was on his way: within six months Mr Berlusconi, after inventing his own party from scratch, had ganged up with Mr Fini and the leader of the soon-to-be-separatist Northern League, Umberto Bossi (who has more of a Duce's whiff about him than Mr Fini does), to thrash the assorted left and centre in a general election.
ECONOMIST: Fini��s nice new suit