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Exit polls shows berlusconi alliance losing seats { April 10 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/world/europe/10cnd-italy.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/10/world/europe/10cnd-italy.html
April 10, 2006
Exit Polls Show Berlusconi's Alliance Losing Seats in Vote
By IAN FISHER
ROME, April 10 — Italians finished two days of voting this afternoon, and surveys of voters leaving the polls suggested that the center-left coalition led by Romano Prodi was winning more seats in parliament than the alliance led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Both sides spoke cautiously about the exit polls, released after voting ended here 3 P.M., especially given the past reluctance of some who vote for Mr. Berlusconi to admit it.
Still, two separate exit polls showed similar results: A Nexis poll for the state broadcaster Rai and a poll conducted by the Piepoli Institute, an Italian polling firm, for Sky TG24 showed Mr. Prodi's alliance leading in a majority of the parliamentary races.Actual results are expected though not guaranteed later on Tuesday.
The exit poll results were not a surprise: Pre-election polls showed Mr. Prodi, 66, a somewhat bland but experienced economist and former prime minister, leading by as many as 5 percentage points.
Still, the polls pointed to a possible reality that many in Italy will take some time to digest: an end to the era of Mr. Berlusconi, 69, the quirky dominating force in Italian politics, business and media whose popularity has plummeted amid a bad economy and accusations that he did not keep many election promises.
"Something dropped in my stomach," said Marida Monaco, 45, at the Communist Party offices in downtown Rome, after the exit poll results were announced. "It has been a really ugly campaign. And this is what the margin that we were hoping for."
The real prospect that Mr. Berlusconi and his center-right allies could lose made for an extraordinary political performance in the past few days. The prime minister spoke of Communists boiling babies in China, said that Italy needed United Nations election observers to prevent fraud and called anyone who would vote for Mr. Prodi or his allies a vulgar name that newscasters stuttered over.
On Sunday, he did not disappoint either. He showed up at a polling place in his northern hometown, Milan, with his 95-year-old mother, Rosa, in tow — and before a flock of cameras rolling.
"Make a cross on the symbol of Forza Italia," he instructed her, referring to his political party.
An opposition party election monitor informed him that his statement violated the ban on public campaigning (the left has also accused his party of violating the ban by sending out campaign text messages to cellphones over the weekend). "Not even with my mother?" a smiling Mr. Berlusconi said. "You really are the Italy that has no love."
True to form, Mr. Prodi, 66, the former president of the European Commission, managed to vote without a flourish.
"I slept very well last night, and today it's sunny and people are voting calmly," he said on Sunday at a polling place near his home in Bologna, accompanied by his wife, Flavia. "I hope everything goes as steadily and as serenely as possible."
In substance, these elections pitted two distinct visions for Italy against each other. Mr. Prodi and his supporters have argued that Italy must return to normal politics, away from the personality and conflicts of a single man, Mr. Berlusconi. In foreign policy, Mr. Prodi argues, Italy needs to refocus on its place in Europe, away from Mr. Berlusconi's strong friendship with the United States.
But Mr. Berlusconi and his supporters say that Mr. Prodi's election would mean a return to stagnant and protectionist governance. Mr. Berlusconi has also raised another issue that resonates with Italians, contending that a government of the left, consisting of parties ranging from the Communists to centrist Catholics, would be inherently unstable, as in Mr. Prodi's earlier term as prime minister, from 1996 to 1998.
Though the campaigning has been peppered with insults, an especially low point was hit during the final week, when Mr. Berlusconi identified people who chose not to vote for him by using a vulgar term for part of the male anatomy.
Elena Corsello, 37, a secretary for an engineering firm, said she had been "disgusted" by the backbiting. "It was like watching two roosters pecking at each other," she said. "That may be a nice metaphor, but it wasn't nice to see."
Political analysts agreed that raising the stakes — and promises — during the final week of the campaign was an attempt to lure undecided voters to the polls. But some people just ignored the call.
"Political parties tell you, 'Vote for me, vote for me,' and they make lots of promises," said Giuseppe, a 60-year-old shopkeeper in downtown Rome who refused to give his last name because he did not want people to know that he had not voted in 15 years. "I don't trust politicians anymore. Words mean nothing, they have to be followed by facts. Without them, they're only words."
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
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