Election Day In Italy : Here Are 3 Things That Could Happen That Would Rock The World
Italians Vote With Berlusconi Challenging Monti Austerity
Italians voted for the first time since Europe’s financial crisis ushered in unelected leaders who imposed an austerity regime to stem the turmoil.
Turnout fell today from the 2008 election, with the initial estimates of the result due tomorrow shortly after 3 p.m. in Rome, when the second day of balloting ends.
The populist campaigns of Beppe Grillo, once a television comic, and former three-time Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is fighting a tax-fraud conviction, have focused on overturning the tax increases enacted by incumbent Mario Monti. Front-runner Pier Luigi Bersani of the Democratic Party and Monti have vowed to maintain budget rigor.
Bersani probably will gain a majority in the 630-seat lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, according to polls published Feb. 8, before a moratorium on surveys started. Victories by Grillo, 64, or Berlusconi, 76, in swing regions such as Lombardy and Sicily may prevent anyone from controlling the Senate, producing gridlock or even new elections.
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Milan, Italy — Good morning from Italy, the most indebted country in Europe. It's election day!
All day and for half of the day tomorrow, Italian citizens will be going to the polls to elect a completely new government.
The winner of the last election was Silvio Berlusconi, but he was basically forced out of office in late 2011, when Italian borrowing costs hit the roof.
His replacement Mario Monti, successfully introduced reforms, and got borrowing costs down, but thanks to his tax hikes, became an incredibly unpopular person.
Now Berlusconi is trying to make a comeback, a prospect that scares the hell out of markets and other leaders, given his antagonism towards the rest of the Europe, and the fact that Italy has so much debt. Any loss of credibility and a rise in borrowing costs could start the whole crisis again.
Berlusconi is seeing running in a close 2nd place, and unlikely to actually surpass Pier Luigi Bersani, the center-left front runner.
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