THIS Friday Italy's general election campaign formally opens. The use of the word "formally" is obligatory since, in reality, Italian politics have been in a state of quasi campaign warfare since December 1994 when the centre right government of media tycoon, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, collapsed, giving way to the year long "technocrat" government of former banker, Mr Lamberto Dini.
Italy's difficult transition from the Christian Democrat/Socialist axis days of Cold War political certainties to a bipolar democracy of alternatives has created a bewildering electoral picture in which campaign issues and programmes are once again likely to count for much less than campaign presentation and management, especially on television.
In theory, the April 21st election contest is a straight clash between left and right, between ex-communist and ex-fascist, between a private sector mogul (Mr Berlusconi) and a public sector mogul (Prof Romano Prodi, twice president of Italy's largest state holding company, IRI), who are the respective alliance candidates for prime minister.
Both camps highlight issues such as unemployment, tax reform, the role of the judiciary, the war against the Mafia, privatisation of state holdings, the need to make it into the Single European Currency and electoral and constitutional reform and the need for greater state infrastructural efficiency as crucial.
Both alliances do so, however, with vaguely similar proposals.
Two years ago Mr Berlusconi promised that he would create a million new jobs. This time he is promising only to work hard for five years to make Italy a better and more prosperous place.
It is true that the two major coalitions have radically different views on at least two subjects private television empires the role and powers of the residency. Inevitably, the will again point to the obvious conflict of interest between Mr Berlusconi, owner of three nationwide TV channels, and Mr Dini, head of government.
Inevitably, too, the right will argue that in order to end the apparent instability which has seen 54 post war governments come and go, Italy must reinforce the powers of its president, along lines similar to that of the French presidency. The left will counter with calls for increased parliamentary powers to counterbalance too much presidential power.
According to all the most recent opinion polls, the Italian electorate is not much convinced, either way, by such arguments.
All polls show the two coalitions running an almost dead heat.
The electorate's confusion is not much helped by the fact that both alliances accuse the other of being a hangover from the old corrupt days of Cold War politics, both contain similar ex-Christian Democrat elements and both appear to face potentially serious internal problems. On the right, Mr Berlusconi faces a challenge from Alleanza Nazionale leader, Mr Gianfranco Fini, while on the left Mr Prodi faces an equally serious challenge from Mr Dini.
Mr Dini's decision to run his own party, Italian Renewal, within the centre left "Olive" umbrella but under its own identity could yet prove a shrewd political calculation.