Silvio Berlusconi moved closer to a remarkable return to power yesterday after insisting that early elections were the only way out of the political crisis sparked by the fall of Romano Prodi.

After talks with President Napolitano, the opposition leader and media tycoon rejected the idea of an interim government, describing the notion as a waste of time. With the latest opinion polls giving him a considerable lead, Mr Berlusconi, 71, is broadly tipped to win a new vote.

Mr Napolitano is said to favour the option of a caretaker government given the task of overhauling the Italian electoral system, which is seen as the cause of fragile coalitions and political instability. He is expected to announce today or tomorrow if he intends to pursue this option in the face of Mr Berlusconi's unbending stance.

Mr Berlusconi insisted that there was no need to change the system of proportional representation that he pushed through Parliament shortly before the last elections in 2006. Mr Prodi and the centre Left won those elections narrowly after five years of centre-right rule marked by near-zero growth and a ballooning deficit. At the time, Mr Berlusconi, the richest man in Italy, was distracted by attempts to stave off corruption charges and protect his business interests.

With Italy slipping behind Spain in economic terms and the centre Left in disarray, the mood has swung back to the Right. Voters are apparently ready to give the irrepressible septuagenarian his third term of office.

“We believe there is no other way out than returning to the polls and giving the country a government that can be operational immediately,” Mr Berlusconi said as he emerged from the meeting with President Napolitano. A caretaker government would be “a waste of time for the country - the citizens would not understand the reason for it”, he said.

The President wrapped up five days of talks with leaders of the 40 parties and factions in the present parliament as he tried to garner support for a caretaker government led either by Franco Marini, the Speaker of the Senate, or Giuliano Amato, the Interior Minister and former Prime Minister.

Opinion polls show 61 per cent of Italians in favour of early elections, with only 33 per cent preferring a transitional government. The polls also give the centre Right between 54 and 58 per cent of the vote and the centre Left between 42 and 45 per cent.

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