Rome ? Former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi hit the campaign trail Friday without waiting to find out if the country faces early elections as a result of Premier Romano Prodi’s resignation, which followed a humiliating defeat in a Senate vote.

“I realized I have opened the electoral campaign of the People’s Freedom” party, the media mogul said in Naples after delivering a speech that heavily criticized Prodi’s 20-month-long government, which collapsed on Thursday night.

Even before defectors in Prodi’s coalition sank the government, Berlusconi had been lobbying for early elections. With the popularity of Prodi’s government sinking in opinion polls over the last months, Berlusconi, already twice premier who lost to Prodi in 2006, is eager for a third term.