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Euro's stability at stake as frustrated Italians cast votes
Source: Agencies |
February 25, 2013, Monday
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ITALIANS voted yesterday in one of the most closely watched and unpredictable elections in years, with pent-up fury over a discredited elite adding to concern it may not produce a government strong enough to lead Italy out of an economic slump.
The election, which concludes this afternoon, is being followed closely by investors; their memories are still fresh of the potentially catastrophic debt crisis that saw Mario Monti, an economics professor and former bureaucrat, summoned to serve as prime minister in place of Silvio Berlusconi 15 months ago.
The controversial Berlusconi was the object of a protest by a group of topless women who were dragged away by police yesterday as he voted.
The protesters, from the Ukrainian women's rights group Femen, shouted "Basta (Enough) Berlusconi," as the media tycoon was voting in a polling station in a Milan school. The same words were painted on their bodies. Police quickly grabbed the women and bundled them away.
Berlusconi, a 76-year-old billionaire, is seeking his fifth term in government and is on trial for having sex with an underage prostitute during alleged orgies at his Milan villa, a charge he denies.
The election could result in a weak Italian government that could, many fear, prompt a new dip in confidence in the European Union's single currency.
Opinion polls give the center-left a narrow lead but the result has been thrown completely open by the prospect of a huge protest vote against the painful austerity measures imposed by Monti's government and deep anger over a never-ending series of corruption scandals. Berlusconi's center-right has also revived.
"I'm not confident that the government that emerges from the election will be able to solve any of our problems," said Attilio Bianchetti, a 55-year-old builder in Milan, who voted for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic and blogger Beppe Grillo.
The 64-year-old Grillo, who is heavily backed by a frustrated generation of young Italians hit by record unemployment, has been one of the biggest features of the last stage of the campaign, packing rallies in town squares up and down Italy.
The election, which concludes this afternoon, is being followed closely by investors; their memories are still fresh of the potentially catastrophic debt crisis that saw Mario Monti, an economics professor and former bureaucrat, summoned to serve as prime minister in place of Silvio Berlusconi 15 months ago.
The controversial Berlusconi was the object of a protest by a group of topless women who were dragged away by police yesterday as he voted.
The protesters, from the Ukrainian women's rights group Femen, shouted "Basta (Enough) Berlusconi," as the media tycoon was voting in a polling station in a Milan school. The same words were painted on their bodies. Police quickly grabbed the women and bundled them away.
Berlusconi, a 76-year-old billionaire, is seeking his fifth term in government and is on trial for having sex with an underage prostitute during alleged orgies at his Milan villa, a charge he denies.
The election could result in a weak Italian government that could, many fear, prompt a new dip in confidence in the European Union's single currency.
Opinion polls give the center-left a narrow lead but the result has been thrown completely open by the prospect of a huge protest vote against the painful austerity measures imposed by Monti's government and deep anger over a never-ending series of corruption scandals. Berlusconi's center-right has also revived.
"I'm not confident that the government that emerges from the election will be able to solve any of our problems," said Attilio Bianchetti, a 55-year-old builder in Milan, who voted for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic and blogger Beppe Grillo.
The 64-year-old Grillo, who is heavily backed by a frustrated generation of young Italians hit by record unemployment, has been one of the biggest features of the last stage of the campaign, packing rallies in town squares up and down Italy.
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