ROME, March 27: The main voice of Italy's centre- left opposition, European Commission chief Romano Prodi, urged withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq on Saturday in comments likely to win some voter sympathy ahead of local polls in June.

In a letter to the Corriere della Sera daily, former prime minister Prodi called the Iraqi war "unjustified and illegitimate". The "Olive Tree" centre-left coalition wanted a UN-led humanitarian operation in place of "occupation".

"If the Olive Tree today found itself responsible for the government, for the problem of whether to continue or interrupt its participation in this war, I don't hesitate to say that the choice would be to put an end to its intervention," he said.

Mr Prodi's bid to spell out the centre-left's position on Iraq comes as they gear up for European and local elections in June.

The opposition was buoyed by the recent electoral triumph of Spain's socialists, who campaigned on a platform of withdrawing Spanish forces from Iraq. But it has so far failed to capitalise on broad Italian opposition to the war in Iraq and subsequent deployment of almost 3,000 Italian troops.

Though the Italian troop presence is not large, it has a great symbolic importance for the United States as it seeks international legitimacy for its role in Iraq after a planned July handover of sovereignty to Iraqis.

BERLUSCONI'S CHIEF OPPONENT: A poll earlier this month showed that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition would get 45 per cent of the vote in a general election and the "Olive Tree" would win 40 per cent.

Mr Prodi, the only man to have beaten Mr Berlusconi at the polls, in a general election in 1996, appeared in his letter to be appealing to critics who saw the coalition's opposition to the presence of Italian troops in Iraq as too lacking in conviction.

"An indispensable condition to make this intervention legitimate would obviously be that it was approved by and then put in action under the authority of the UN," he said, adding that all countries, especially Muslim ones, should participate.

Mr Prodi has said he would not run in the June elections, instead serving out his term as president of the commission which expires in October, but he has assumed the mantle of opposition leader as polls approach. -Reuters