Berlusconi steps down in bid to avoid voters

Silvio Berlusconi is resigning as head of the Italian Government in a technical move to launder the image of a regime now clearly rejected by Italian voters. The aim is to avoid an election which would see the government parties hammered by voters.

The second- and third-biggest parties in Berlusconi's four- way coalition, the Union of Christian Democrats and the National Alliance, both want to try mark a clean break with the previous four years of government and are set to try revamp the Cabinet and focus economic policy on low-income households and Italy's depressed south.