Berlusconi trailing in early indications. Prodi at 50- 54%

[wake.up.america]

I say it's great news. Hopefully, Prodi can maintain his lead.

The left wing coalition needs to keep the majority!

http://www.lastampa.it/speciali/elezioni2006/

[NYC]

1. Thanks for the good news.

I'll check back this evening to see how things went. :)

[400Years]

2. would this mean Berlusconi is out of there?

[wake.up.america]

3. Should the trend continue, Berlusconi will be out of office...

Italian politics is fluid. Berlusconi could conceivable make a come-back in as little as 12 months

[sonicx]

4. From the things i've read about Berlusconi, he seems a tad crazy

Why is the election so close?

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

5. Because you're not really voting for one party,

instead you are voting for blocs of alliances among several parties, which makes it harder for one group to get a distinctive advantage over the other. Berlusconi's party bloc is a center-right coalition of diverse parties including far-right ones, while Prodi's party block is a center-left coalition. Then there are a few parties that have chosen not to align themselves with any of the two big coalitions.

I regularly check La Repubblica for election results and it would appear that Berlusconi is on his way out. I was also watching the RAI newscast, listening to campaign speeches, and obviously Prodi sounds like a much better leader with firm ideas, whereas Berlusconi sounded like Bush, appealing to religious fervor and 'family values,' something that doesn't always resonate with a majority of Italians who are secular and appreciate diversity and equal rights.

[tocqueville]

6. Italy's Prodi set to win election: exit polls

25 minutes ago

ROME (Reuters) - Center-left leader Romano Prodi looks set to beat Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Italy's general election, winning a majority in both houses of parliament, according to exit polls released on Monday.

A poll by the Nexus research institute predicted that Prodi's alliance would win between 50 and 54 percent of the vote in both the lower house of parliament and the upper house (Senate).

Berlusconi's center-right bloc was shown winning 45 to 49 percent of the vote in both houses according to the poll, broadcast by state television RAI.
..........................................................................................

A more detailed Nexus exit poll is due out at 3.45 p.m. (1345 GMT). Exit polls in Italy have called past elections incorrectly, most famously in 1996 when they failed to predict that Prodi had beaten Berlusconi.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060410/wl_nm/italy_election_exit_dc_2

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Celebrate!

:toast: :woohoo: :applause: :party:

[bluestateguy]

8. Does this mean Prodi would win outright, without a coalition government?

Is he against the war?

[MadisonProgressive]

9. It's only the exit polls - and we know how 'accurate' they are...

[Career Prole]

10. 2 Exit Polls Show Berlusconi Losing

2 Exit Polls Show Berlusconi Losing

ROME - Two exit polls indicated Monday that challenger Romano Prodi's center-left coalition was set to beat Premier Silvio Berlusconi's forces in Italian parliamentary elections.

Two Nexus polls indicated that Prodi's coalition received between 50 and 54 percent of the vote in both the upper and lower chambers of parliament, while Berlusconi's coalition received between 45 and 49 percent.

Those surveys would give Prodi's coalition between 159 and 170 seats in the Senate, compared with between 139 and 150 for Berlusconi's center-right alliance.


The whole damned world is sick of the right wing!

[CrazyForKucinich]

11. Like the exit polls showing Kerry winning?

[IndianaGreen]

14. Our exit polls were correct, Kerry won Ohio!

The Diebold machines took care of the vote, as they will in 2006 and 2008.

[Career Prole]

15. True.

I'm not sure what Diebold's Italian market share is.
Election shenanigans sure didn't have much of an impact in the prime ministerial election in Spain, though. :)

[bluestateguy]

12. Cautiouslu optimistic

I would rather see real votes, but at least Italian elections are paper ballot.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

13. is diabold involved?

[oscar111]

17. PAPER ballots... which euro nations use them, not machines?

i forgot the list.. pls help oscar

we need to keep telling our friends at DU to forget VERIFIABLE ELECTRONIC VOTES... paper is better.

[David__77]

16. Then it's time to bring him to justice.

He must be prosecuted vigorously for his crimes against the Italian people. He is a true son of Mussolini.

[Tarc]

18. They are falling, one by one

Anyone taking notice of how the handful of world leaders who championed the Iraq invasion and "shoulder to shoulder" fare in subsequent elections?

Aznar (Spain) - out
Berlusconi (Italy) - on the way out
Blair (UK) - hanging by a thread
Bush (USA) - won, but is now a free-falling lame duck


The people have spoken loud and clear; security is vital to all...but unnecessary, preemptive, personal vendetta wars are not.

[Career Prole]

19. It's world leaders in general...not just the

coalition of the bribed.
Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, etc.
The whole world's caught anti-bush fever.
Yet for the repukes and corporate media, "Because Bush Is A Moronic War-Criminal Who Made Us Far Less Safe While Simultaneously Bankrupting The Country" isn't a suitable platform for Dems.
The hell it ain't. It works for me!

[rmgarrette64]

20. Nope, looks like Berlusconi is still there

This is the latest I've seen:

April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi overtook former European Commission President Romano Prodi in Italian elections and now leads in voting for both houses of parliament, projected results showed. The final outcome is too close to call.

Berlusconi had a narrow advantage of 0.3 percentage point in voting for the Chamber of Deputies that would give him 340 seats in the 630-seat house, projections based on a partial count of votes showed. Berlusconi's coalition also held a narrow majority in the Senate. ...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aM.eoMzWnX_A&refer=top_world_news

R. Garrett

[Tarc]

22. better news

Looks like Prodi's alliance takes the lower house, while Berlusconi currently has a 1-seat edge in the upper. But apparently there are still 6 seats to be finalized after overseas votes, and Prodi is claiming (not official yet) that his side took 4.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

21. If you want results

updated frequently, see www.repubblica.it/speciale/2006/elezioni/senato/riepilogo_nazionale.html