Berlusconi tipped for defeat as Italians vote

[tocqueville]

By Phil Stewart
Sat Apr 8, 6:13 PM ET

ROME (Reuters) - Italians go to the polls on Sunday in a general election that could unseat Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after five years of economic stagnation.

Opinion polls have not been published in two weeks, but the prime minister has trailed the opposition centre-left, headed by Romano Prodi, for the past two years.

Berlusconi, the U.S. government's strongest ally in continental Europe and Italy's richest man, still hopes his promises of tax cuts will swing a surprise victory. But even he spoke of possible defeat in the final days of campaigning.

If poll forecasts are borne out, power will pass from the flamboyant Berlusconi to the mild-mannered Prodi, a former president of the European Commission who promises tax breaks for Italian companies and to withdraw troops from Iraq quickly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060408/wl_nm/italy_dc_31

[David in Canada]

1. Good-bye Fascist!

Glad to see Italy's modern-day Mussolini fall on his ass. Hopefully, he'll lose big enough to finally end his political career.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Does Diebold have offices in Italy?

Just wondering.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Bush would probably offer his covert services without being asked.

Undoubtedly he has a brazillian ways of getting the results they want.



Get out of my dream, get into my car....

[rodeodance]

3. the US, UK, Aussi--all went for War Presidents--looks like the Italians

are wise people!

[Jack Rabbit]

4. You forgot the Spaniards

And they threw the accomplice Anzar out.

[shenmue]

5. Can't wait to see him go

There are too many countries in the world ruled over by right-wing pinheads.

[Gold Metal Flake]

6. "...promises tax breaks for Italian companies..."

Is he a neo-liberalist?

[Poiuyt]

7. It's probably because of that video that Keith Olbermann keeps showing

I would describe it, but it would get this thread locked.

[1932]

8. BBC Radio left me scratching my head on Friday

It sounded like they were working hard to help Berlusconi. The reporter (not anyone interviewed) said that the opposition was merely defining themselves as being against Berlusconi and not actually standing for anything. Then they interviewed people who only had silly reasons for voting against Berlusconi.

I'm willing to bet that BBC's coverage bore only slight resemblance to reality.

[benburch]

9. I hope he leaves office the way Mussolini did!

[stephinrome]

10. I only wish the bit about troop withdrawal were true.

I'm afraid the left here is just as soft on war as the Dems. There's the Beretta contract, the oil in Nassiriyah, etc, etc. At least a number of parties that make up the center left coalition are for immediate withdrawal, but they are the smaller ones.

Anyway, wish us luck!!! Five more years of Berlusco would be a nightmare.

Polls close at 3pm on Monday. We'll all be glued to the TV!

[Peace Patriot]

12. Good luck! It'll be great to see that asshole go down!

What is the situation in Italy with voting machines?

Here in the U.S., we have private corporate elections for President and Congress (and all other "elected" posts), with two, closely related, rightwing Bushite corporations controlling the vote "tabulation" with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, in the voting machines and central tabulators, with virtually no audit/recount controls. There's WHY things are the way they are here.

[stephinrome]

13. electronic vote counting

This time there will be 4 regions (out of 20) involved in a 34 million Euro "experiment" with electronic vote tabulation. People will still vote on paper ballots and the ballots will be counted by hand, as in the other regions. The difference is the counts in these 4 regions, which includes Lazio, home to Rome, will be then entered on a computer and transfered to special "encrypted" USB memory sticks. The memory sticks will then be collected in one central place and the tabulations transmitted to the Ministry of the Interior.

This was all decided as part of a new electoral law pushed through by Berlusconi's majority in January. With elections in April, this *unfortunately* left no time for any bidding, so the contracts were awarded with no public tender. The main contractor is Telecom Italia, the teleommunications giant. They sub-contracted to Accenture (ex Authur Anderson). The Minister of the Interior's son is a director at Accenture. His company will be responsible for transmitting the data from the central collection site to the ministry. So you've got Gianmario Pisanu sending data to Giuseppe Pisanu. Isn't that a kick?

In any event, if there are descrepancies between hand counts and electronic, paper rules. To be honest, I'm not too worried about this particular election. I just see it as the first step, a way to show everyone that computerized voting is the way to go.

As U.S. citizens, our group is all to familiar with the grave problems associated with electronic voting, we follow the issue closely. And we wil be doing all we can to campaign against it here in Italy.

[Heidi]

14. Welcome to DU!

:hi: from Ticino, Stephinrome!

[stephinrome]

16. Grazie!

If you ever come down this way Heidi, get in touch!

Failed to mention in my previous post that the third contractor is EDS. An Italian company is also claiming that EDS stole from them the software that will be used in the vote tabulation.

See Beppe Grillo's blog for more info: http://www.beppegrillo.it/eng/2006/03/theres_a_strange_smell_in_the_1.html

[Heidi]

17. Bitte.

;) (We speak English, and a little German, at home. ;) )

I've never been to Rome, but one of favorite American artists, Cy Twombly, lives near Rome. Our next visit to Italy likely will be to Firenze. I'm dying to spend a week at the Uffizi. http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/uffizi/

(Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. :hi:)

[TheBaldyMan]

15. I wouldn't put a little ballot box rigging beyond Il Ducino