ALL the major forces in Italian [political life are desperately scrambling to "sign up" vote winning faces, writes Paddy Agnew, from Rome.
This follows last week's announcement by the President, Mr Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, calling a general election for April.
The former "clean hands" investigating magistrate, Mr Antonio di Pietro, remains the most wanted player on the political market. A survey published this week by the weekly Panorama suggests that 80 per cent of those polled expressed their trust in him.
Mr di Pietro's future has been under a cloud because of judicial, proceedings against him since his resignation from the judiciary in December 1994. However, a Brescia court this week dismissed extortion charges against him.
If the former magistrate opts to contest the election, he will do so in the ranks of the centre left "Olive" coalition.
For the time being, Mr di Pietro has not decided one way or the other. Which is also the situation of the former banker, Mr Lamberto Dini, the man who led the year long "technocrat" government which succeeded that of Mr Silvio Berlusconi in January 1995.
Mr Dini is considering the formation of his own centre party which would fight the election independently but which would subsequently ally with the "Olive" coalition.