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Old April 13th, 2008 #39
Robert Bandanza
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Default Polls Open in Italy's General Elections

ROME, April 13--Polls opened on Sunday in Italy's general elections to give media magnate Silvio Berlusconi or former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, two very different men with similar policies, the task of trying to cure Italy's economic malaise.

Polling stations opened at 8:00 am (0600 GMT), with voting to continue until 10:00 pm. Voting resumes at 7:00 am on Monday until 3:00 pm.

Against a backdrop of a stumbling economy, years of political instability and general malaise, some one-third of the 50-million-strong electorate remained undecided when the last permitted surveys were conducted two weeks ago.

The economy, slowing towards stagnation, is the main challenge for the next prime minister.

But his ability to carry out reforms may depend on a complex election law that makes it hard to win a clear majority in the upper house of parliament.

Flamboyant centre-right opposition leader Berlusconi, seeking a third term, and his low-key centre-left rival both promise modest tax cuts aimed at spurring consumption.

They have also both said Italy needs more police to tackle crime.

Berlusconi, 71, has consistently led opinion polls by 6-9 percentage points but the outcome of the parliamentary election could be close, with up to a third of the 47.3 million electorate expected to chose who to vote for at the last minute.

Veltroni, 52, has presented himself as the candidate for change, copying the "Yes we can" slogan of US presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

Many Italians are gloomy as they vote for their 62nd government since World War Two.

"I wasn't going to vote at first, but my friend kept telling me I should," said Flavio Rossi, a Milan waiter.

"My father hasn't voted since 1990. Italy needs a complete makeover and none of them are capable."

He said he would wait until he arrives at the polling booth to decide how to vote.

Voting starts at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Sunday and ends at 3 p.m. on Monday. A clear indication of the outcome is expected by Monday evening.

The voting system was put in place by Berlusconi's last government before he narrowly lost a 2006 election to Romano Prodi, who preceded Veltroni as the centre left's leader.

This makes it difficult for one party to win a strong majority in the Senate, the upper house, essential for a government wanting to making unpopular economic reforms.

The election winner may have to broker a deal with smaller parties he has held at arms length during the election campaign -- the communist/green Rainbow Left, the centrist Union of Christian Democrats and the hard right La Destra.

The next prime minister will want as strong a coalition as possible to avoid the fate of Prodi's government, which collapsed 20 months into a five-year term.

A "grand coalition" uniting Veltroni and Berlusconi now seems less likely than at the start of the campaign.

Italy's economy is suffering from poor domestic demand and the strong euro making exports more costly.

The economic malaise is symbolized by the failure to sell the state's controlling stake in airline Alitalia, a major issue for the new government.

The Treasury recently cut its 2008 forecast for economic growth to 0.6 from 1.5 percent.

The International Monetary Fund says it will be half the revised figure.

http://english.alalam.ir/en-NewsPage...20080413090826