ROME, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Italy will hold general elections Sunday and Monday, with 32 candidates running for prime minister.

    Two-time premier Silvio Berlusconi, who heads the center-right People of Freedom party (PDL), and former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, leader of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), are the two main contenders for the post.

    Following are profiles of the two major parties and their campaign pledges.

    Newly established in February, the PDL is the largest center-right party, which merged Berlusconi's Forza Italia party with a long-term ally, the right-wing National Alliance (AN).

    The move was Berlusconi's response to last year's creation of the PD and part of a bid to simplify Italy's splintered political scene.

    During the campaign, the PDL promised incentives to create new jobs, particularly for youngsters and women, and measures to transform temping jobs into full-time ones in order to lessen job precariousness.

    It also pledges to continue a major public works program initiated during the previous Berlusconi government, including a bridge linking Sicily to mainland Italy and a return to nuclear power.

    The PD was created in October 2007 by the merging of the two biggest parties on the center-left: the Democratic Left, the main heir of the Italian Communist Party; and the Daisy, a party of centrists and left-leaning Catholics.

    The party promises incentives to boost competitiveness particularly for small-to-medium sized firms.

    The PD is also committed to "promoting" the legal recognition of the rights of unmarried and same-sex couples and introducing living wills.

    In addition, both sides vow to boost security and justice, to cut taxes and to overcome the north-south divide by boosting infrastructure in the south.