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| Italy's caretaker Prime Minister Mario Monti unveils the logo of his newly-born coalition set to race at upcoming national elections in Rome, Jan. 4, 2013. (Xinhua/Alberto Lingria) |
ROME, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Italy's caretaker Prime Minister Mario Monti on Friday unveiled the logo of his newly born coalition set to race at upcoming national elections.
"Today I am able to announce the configuration of the social and political forces that are willing to join hands in order to offer a new political force to voters," Monti told a press conference in Rome.
"There will be a single list for the Senate (the parliament upper chamber) and three separate lists in coalition for the Chamber of Deputies," he said.
Monti clarified that one of the three separate lists at the lower chamber will be grass roots, without former members of parliament, while the other two will be of the Union of the Center (UDC) party and of the center-right Future and Freedom (FLI) party.
Monti also unveiled his logo, a circle with stripes of red, white and green - the colors of the Italian flag - reading "Civic choice with Monti for Italy" that will represent the grass roots list at the Chamber of Deputies. The same logo without the words "civic choice" would be the Monti list's symbol at the Senate.
The 69-year-old economist also added that in a few days he will unveil the candidate parameters for his lists, stressing that they will be very "strict" in terms of criminal convictions, anti-mafia regulations and conflict of interests.
He said that he was "glad" for the "enthusiastic contribution "showed by his allies in the common effort to create a better environment in scandal-hit politics and put many disaffected Italians in contact with the political world again.
On Dec. 21, Monti handed in his resignation as the Italian premier at the helm of a technocrat government appointed in November 2011 to shore up the eurozone's third largest economy against a dramatic debt crisis.
After meeting on Dec. 28 a group of business and political figures who had expressed support for his reform "agenda," he took the field and pledge to head the newly born coalition of centrists that will race in the national vote set on Feb. 24-25.
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