ROME, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Italian Centre-right Premier Silvio Berlusconi and opposition leader Romano Prodi met for a 90-minute television debate Monday night which, as several observers said, would make no difference at all to the election result.

    It was the second of two encounters in the run-up to the April 9-10 election.

    "We're in the finishing straight now. The potential impact (onvoters) is much lower than in the first meeting," said Marco Marturano, head of a political consultancy firm which has worked for centre-left leaders.

    The first debate on March 14 drew 16 million viewers, a record for a political discussion. Many analysts said Prodi won on points, although Berlusconi and most of his allies denied that, according to Italian media.

    "This one just serves to motivate the two teams," added Marturano, saying that for Prodi this meant holding on to his 3 percent to 5 percent lead in the polls and for Berlusconi it meant ensuring his squad kept fighting till the end.

    Piero Fassino, head of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Left, said TV debates were more important in the United States than in Italy, where voting habits were more deeply ingrained.

    "The undecided voters are the ones who haven't decided which party they will vote for in a given coalition. They know which coalition it will be," said Communist Refoundation leader Fausto Bertinotti.

    In any case, they all said Prodi would win.

    Meanwhile, most of the premier's centre-right allies continued to complain about the rules governing the question and answer format, which give the two candidates two and a half minutes to answer each question.

    The result of the tight control was boring television, said Ignazio La Russa, Lower House whip for the rightwing National Alliance. He said he would not bother watching.

    "The problem is the rules. Berlusconi's advantage will be clearer this time but with these rules it's still not going to be particularly exciting," he said.

    One of the key themes of the debate was expected to be taxation. Berlusconi and his allies have accused the centre-left in recent days of wanting to raise taxes, sparking loud denials from Prodi. Enditem