Discarded Ballots Add Fuel to Imbroglio in Italy

[AGENDA21]

ROME — Italy's hotly disputed election is fast turning into a rerun of the Florida 2000 fiasco, with the discovery of a pile of ballots dumped in the garbage on the outskirts of Rome and the politicians continuing to bicker over who won the photo-finish poll.

Rome's authorities immediately ordered an inquiry into the circumstances under which 18 ballot boxes were found by a passer-by stacked beside municipal garbage cans near a school that had served as a polling station.

They also said the 608 valid, marked ballots, contained in boxes clearly inscribed with the words "Ministry of Interior," would not have changed the election result and probably had been mistaken by the school's cleaners for trash.

Rome Procurator Giovanni Ferrara told reporters the discarded votes already had been counted and would have no effect on the still uncertain outcome of the election, which left-of-center leader Romano Prodi says he won by a wafer-thin margin of 0.6 percent.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002927491_italy13.html

[MADem]

1. Sylvio will not go gently, I suspect

This is gonna go to the Supremes, I think!!!

And I would not put it past Monkeyboy to find a way to help his old pal. Italy is absolutely VITAL to the Iraq war prosecution, as it is a key waystation enroute to the theater.

[AGENDA21]

2. It seems that way!!