No sex for the Italian Premier!

Premier Silvio Berlusconi has promised Italians he would lower taxes and raise pensions. His latest campaign pledge is rather personal: no sex until April 9 elections.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi has promised Italians he would lower taxes and raise pensions. His latest campaign pledge is rather personal: no sex until April 9 elections, an Italian newspaper reported on Sunday.

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Il Giornale, a conservative Milan daily owned by Paolo Berlusconi, the premier's brother, reported that the no-sex vow was made during a campaign rally in Cagliari, Sardinia, on Saturday with a popular TV preacher on the island and his followers. The clergyman, Rev. Massimiliano Pusceddu, praised the premier for what he described as a defense of family values and promised that his followers would support the conservative leader because "if the left wins it will be the moral end for this country." "Let me give you my blessing," the priest was quoted as saying. Berlusconi replied, smiling, according to Il Giornale: "Dear Father Massimiliano. I thank you a lot. I will try to meet your expectations, and I promise from now on, 2{ months of absolute sexual abstinence, until April 9."

Berlusconi's challenger in the vote is Romano Prodi, a center-left leader and former premier.