Two exit polls indicated Monday that challenger Romano Prodi's center-left
coalition was set to beat Premier Silvio Berlusconi's forces in parliamentary
elections.
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
touches his forehead during the taping of an Italian television talk show
in Rome in this January 11, 2006 file photo. Centre-left leader Romano
Prodi looks set to beat Berlusconi in Italy's general election, winning a
majority in both houses of parliament, according to exit polls released on
April 10, 2006. [Reuters] |
Two Nexus polls issued 45 minutes apart indicated that in voting Sunday and
Monday, Prodi's coalition had garnered between 50 and 54 percent of the vote in
both the upper and lower chambers of parliament, while Berlusconi's coalition
had between 45 and 49 percent.
Both exit polls gave Prodi's coalition between 159 and 170 seats in the
Senate, compared to 139 and 150 for Berlusconi's center-right alliance. The
polls, which had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, did
not give an immediate breakdown for seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies.
Dario Franceschini, coordinator of the center-left La Margherita, or Daisy,
party _ a major partner in Prodi's coalition _ was jubilant after the first exit
poll was released, but cautioned that prudence was necessary.
"Italy has been waiting for five years, and deserves this moment," he said.
"If the vote confirms these first exit polls, a strong victory awaits us."
Paolo Guzzanti, a senator with Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, appeared
resigned to defeat.
"The numbers can change a little but it is clear that the center-left has won
and the center-right has lost," he said after the second poll was released. "It
will be up to us to organize the opposition."
Other center-right leaders, however, urged caution.
"We want to see the real vote count," Denis Verdini, electoral coordinator
for Forza Italia, was quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency. "There have
always been surprises" with this electoral law.