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Weary Italians Go to the Polls

Posted Apr 14, 08 7:13 AM CDT in World 

(Newser) – Polls are open in Italy's parliamentary election, which Silvio Berlusconi appears likely to win. Whether the two-time prime minister or Rome's mayor Walter Veltroni triumphs, the next Italian leader has to kickstart a stagnated economy; growth this year is expected to be as low as 0.3% —or even zero, writes the Daily Telegraph. Turnout has been low over the course of the two-day vote, and apathy and disgust with politics are rife.

One voter in Sorrento was arrested after shouting "Politics makes me sick!" at his polling place and then eating his ballot. Italians' views of their country's economic future are bleak, and chronic governmental instability—made worse by a crippling electoral law that necessitates huge, ungovernable coalitions—hasn't helped. That malaise showed in the latest polling; fully a third of voters remained undecided.

Sources Daily Telegraph (UK), AFP

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Walter Veltroni addresses a rally in Naples, Italy, Wednesday, April 9, 2008.   (AP Photo)
Outgoing Italian premier Romano Prodi casts his ballot in a polling station in Bologna, Italy, Sunday, April 13, 2008.   (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Italian center-right candidate premier Silvio Berlusconi casts his ballot in a polling station in Milan, Italy, Sunday, April 13, 2008.   (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
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