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Rome: Two rapes over the weekend involving foreign victims and alleged perpetrators have pushed crime and immigration to the top Italy's political agenda as Silvio Berlusconi prepares to return to power.
The widely reported rapes of an American student near a Milan nightclub and a student from Lesotho on the outskirts of Rome will bolster Berlusconi's tough on crime stance.
In both rape cases foreigners - an Egyptian and a Romanian - are being held as suspects.
"The most alarming and humiliating problem that the new government has inherited from the last one, which ended so ingloriously, is personal security. It will be a big responsibility," said Il Giornale, a newspaper close to Berlusconi which ran a front page headline: "Rome raped".
Fears over crime and illegal immigration contributed to a doubling of support at last week's general election for Lega Norte, a junior partner in Berlusconi's coalition.
The Lega Norte, which only runs in northern Italy, polled more than eight per cent of the national vote. Its campaign included a poster featuring a Native American with the slogan: "They also were subjected to immigration and now they live on reserves!"
Accused by its critics of racism, the party said it would petition Berlusconi for tougher laws against crime.
Roberto Calderoli, a former Lega Norte minister under Berlusconi, said: "Within two months of taking office we will give a clear response on security and illegal immigration with a draft law to come out by the end of May."
"Whoever waters it down or opposes it will have to be considered and exposed as being as bad as a rapist," he told Il Giornale.
La Repubblica newspaper quoted statistics saying one in four people arrested for rape are immigrants but noted that only a tiny proportion of rapes are reported.
Last year a Lega Norte mayor of Cittadella, in the northern Veneto region, passed a local law which banned foreigners from applying for residency if they did not have a regular job and an "adequate" home.
One candidate for mayor of Rome said the weekend sexual attacks were evidence Italy has been too soft on immigrants.
"For too long illegal immigrants and nomads have been considered untouchable in Rome," said Gianni Alemanno, a minister in Berlusconi's last government, who hopes to win control of the capital from the centre left.
Walter Veltroni quit Rome's mayoral seat to lead the centre-left Democratic Party in an unsuccessful national election last weekend. The high-profile position is now being fought over by Alemanno and Francesco Rutelli.
Rutelli preceded Veltroni in the job until he too led a failed election campaign against Berlusconi.
As Rutelli failed to secure a majority in a first round in what used to be a safe seat for the centre left, the two candidates now face a run-off ballot.
"Rome is one of the safest cities in Europe," Rutelli said at a campaign rally on Sunday. "Unfortunately this is not enough."
Within two months of taking office we will give a clear response on security and illegal immigration with a draft law to come out by the end of May."
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