Berlusconi's mounting woes fuel talk of early vote

By Gavin Jones

ROME (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi's personal, political and legal problems are mounting, leading the Italian prime minister's media and political allies to speak of a plot against him and a risk of early elections.

"Berlusconi under siege," was the headline in Sunday's edition of Il Giornale, owned by Berlusconi's brother, over an article which promised to "reveal the plot" against him.

The tycoon leader has been under pressure since May when his wife announced she wanted a divorce and a series of sex scandals began to emerge.

But problems have been mounting of late rather than easing, leading many commentators to predict an early end to his 18-month-old government even though his approval ratings remain relatively high and he has an ample parliamentary majority.

In the last week, prosecutors accused a junior Treasury minister of links with the mafia and Berlusconi's wife filed for a divorce which promises to be messy and costly by citing him as responsible for the marriage breakdown.

And this weekend it emerged that Berlusconi has been avoiding his usual Rome residence because he believes he is under threat from al Qaeda.

"I am very worried," he was quoted as saying in Italy's main daily, Corriere della Sera, and other newspapers on Sunday. "There is someone who wants to blow me up."

TRIALS RESUME

On top of that, a trial against him on charges of false accounting and tax fraud in the acquisition of TV rights by his Mediaset television empire resumes on Monday, after Italy's highest court lifted his immunity from prosecution last month.

Another trial which sees him charged with corruption is due to resume on November 27. Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing.

Berlusconi's government has hastily drawn up a reform of the justice system which would extinguish the trials against him, but several allies have distanced themselves from the plan.

"Berlusconi has a duty to face up to the accusations," Gianfranco Fini, a co-founder with Berlusconi of the ruling center-right People of Freedom party said on Sunday.

He added however that legislation to safeguard him from trials while in office was "not a scandal."

While Il Giornale concluded Berlusconi's problems "cannot be coincidences," lower house speaker Fini, who is widely considered to be manoeuvring to take over as prime minister, rejected talk of an anti-government plot as "a bizarre theory."

Speaking in a television interview, he warned against calling early elections, saying this would signal the failure of the People of Freedom party.