1.   A former Socialist premier, Andrei Lukanov, was shot and killed in front of his home in fall.

2.   Berlusconi created his media empire in large part due to help from friend Bettino Craxi, the former Socialist premier implicated in dozens of corruption probes.

3.   Berisha, head of the Democratic Party, has turned down five other candidates proposed by Fino, the Socialist premier, in the past two months.

4.   But the Socialist premier lacks the broad support needed to get elected.

5.   Judge Guglielmo Muntoni also ordered Bettino Craxi, the former Socialist premier, to be tried in the same case on charges of illegally funding political parties.

6.   Juppe cautioned the French against electing a leftist government that would force Chirac to share power with a Socialist premier.

7.   The countess was accused of helping launder kickback money for the late Socialist premier Bettino Craxi.

8.   The IMF granted the badly needed loan to the government of Socialist premier Zhan Videnov in July after he introduced a painful austerity package.

9.   The legislation passed Wednesday amended a law approved by the old parliament dominated by Democrats, but never signed into law by a caretaker Socialist premier.

10.   The outgoing Juppe cautioned the French against electing a leftist government that would force Chirac to share power with a Socialist premier.