Lawmaker Urged to End 85-Day Hunger Strike

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, medics and others urged maverick European Parliament member Marco Pannella to halt his 85-day hunger strike in protest of the government’s failure to resolve a parliamentary wrangle, but the white-haired septuagenarian vowed to continue.

Pannella, founder of the civil libertarian Radical Party, is protesting “phantom seats” in Italy’s Parliament.

In elections last year, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s party won more seats than it had candidates, leaving 12 seats in the lower house empty. The government says it cannot allocate these seats to other parties as this would not be what the country voted for.