Berlusconi frontrunner as Italy votes

Rome: Italians voted on Sunday in a parliamentary election that could bring conservative media magnate Silvio Berlusconi back to power for the third time to deal with a deep economic and social malaise.

The 71-year-old billionaire's main challenger is centre-left leader Walter Veltroni, a former communist who portrays himself as a man of change, although his campaign promises of modest tax cuts and getting tough on crime are similar to Berlusconi's.

Many of Italy's 47 million voters were gloomy about the prospects for economic recovery and political stability as they chose their 62nd government since the Second World War, especially as election laws make it hard for anyone to win a clear majority.

Recession

The centre-left coalition government led by Romano Prodi lasted just 20 months before it collapsed in January with Italy sliding towards economic recession.

"I don't care who wins. I just want a government that lasts," said 54-year-old teacher Francesco Antonazzi, voting in Rome after booths opened in the morning. Voting ends 3pm today (5 m UAE time) and the result could be clear a few hours later.

Berlusconi, the only man in 50 years to have lasted a full term as prime minister, was applauded as he swept past voters in Milan, cast his ballot and kissed a three-year-old boy.

"Save us, Silvio," one voter shouted.

Veltroni, 52, the low-key leader of the Democratic Party and former mayor of Rome, waited in a long queue in the Italian capital until officials let him through to vote. He said only: "I hope it goes well."

Berlusconi, one of Italy's richest men, led in opinion polls but his campaign at times lacked the flamboyance that won him power in 1994 and 2001, when he went on to serve the full term.

The usually smooth-talking leader also made several apparent slips that could cost him votes, including recently insulting popular soccer player Francesco Totti for backing the centre left.

Italy's morale has been battered by the struggle to find a buyer for loss-making airline Alitalia, a garbage crisis in Naples, a health scare over mozzarella cheese and gloomy news for the fourth largest economy in the European Union.

The International Monetary Fund sees just 0.3 per cent growth this year for Italy, which lags its euro zone partners and has the world's third-highest debt in absolute terms.

Berlusconi and Veltroni both promised modest tax cuts aimed at spurring consumption. They have also both said Italy needs more police to tackle crime.

The winner's ability to head off a recession could be hampered by a complex election law - introduced by Berlusconi - making it hard to win a clear majority in the upper house.

Rome builder Luciano di Pasquale, 55, voted for Berlusconi because he believed the conservative leader was more likely to improve employment and wages. "I don't like the way Prodi governed and Veltroni is just more of the same," he said.

Ruggero Bianchi, 63, voted for Veltroni, who also has the backing of Hollywood actor George Clooney.

"I have faith in the Democratic Party but I don't think the next government is going to last more than the last one," Bianchi said in Rome.

A third of voters were expected to decide at the last minute who to back. Many saw little difference between the platforms.

Summary
Earlyelection

Italy votes for its 62nd government since the Second World War. An early election was called when Romano Prodi resigned as prime minister in January, after the collapse of his centre-left coalition, which had been in power for just 20 months.

Only one Italian government has lasted a full five-year term in the last 50 years, led by conservative Silvio Berlusconi between 2001-2006 and even he was forced to resign once during that time by fractious allies.

When?
Two-day voting, yesterday and today. Only for regional, provincial and mayoral elections; if no candidate wins an absolute majority there will be a second round of voting on April 27-28.

What?
Voters elect a new upper and lower house of the national parliament by selecting from lists headed by 32 candidates for prime minister, of whom only two - 71-year-old Berlusconi and 52-year-old centre-left leader Walter Veltroni - have a realistic chance of winning.

Eight provincial presidents and councils (Asti, Varese, Massa Carrara, Rome, Benevento, Foggia, Catanzaro, Vibo Valentia).

426 mayors (including Rome, Treviso, Vicenza, Pisa, Brescia, Sondrio, Massa, Viterbo and Pescara).

Regional assemblies and governments in Sicily and Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Who can vote?
47.3 million people in Italy are eligible to vote for the lower house, or Chamber of Deputies, which has 630 seats.

43.2 million in Italy can vote for the Senate (25 is the minimum age for voting for the upper house, versus 18 for the lower house). The Senate has 315 elected members and seven unelected honorary lifetime members with full voting rights.

A further 2.8 million Italians living abroad can vote for 12 members of the lower house; 2.5 million of them can vote for six Senate seats.

61,225 polling booths stand across Italy for the national vote.

The local elections involve 14 million eligible voters.

Rules
A new law against election fraud forbids entering the closed booths with cellphones or cameras.

Voters indicate their preference on a ballot paper with a cross or line on the symbol of their chosen party.

Electoral law
Italians blame electoral laws for chronic instability that brought down the 61st government since the Second World War in January.

In 2005 then PM Berlusconi pushed through reforms to damage the chances of Prodi in 2006 elections. The reform's own right-wing author dubbed it "porcata" (rubbish).

The system, still in use, mixes proportional representation with a threshold of 2 per cent for parties in a coalition and 4 per cent for single parties. It permitted more than 20 parties to take seats in 2006.

It awards "bonus" seats to the winners, allocated on a national basis in the lower house and regionally in the Senate. This meant Prodi had a majority in the lower house but a margin of two seats in the Senate, a result which analysts say could be repeated this time for Berlusconi.

He and Veltroni favour altering the system to reduce the proportional element and push Italy towards a two-party system