Italian left risks partial victory in key euro zone vote

ROME: Leftist forces in Italy were poised to win against Silvio Berlusconi yesterday but might fail to snag a majority in the upper house in a key election, with a new anti-austerity party also set to make inroads, exit polls and projections showed.
Pier Luigi Bersani and his leftist coalition were shown ahead in exit polls with between 34.5 and 37 percent, beating the 29 to 31 percent for scandal-tainted former premier Berlusconi’s group.
But the exit polls also showed that right and left were neck and neck in the battleground Lombardy region, which could determine who ends up controlling the upper house of parliament.
A projection by the Piepoli Institute based on a sample of early results showed Berlusconi’s coalition ahead in the Senate race with 31 percent against 29.5 percent for Bersani’s.
According to the Tecne institute, Berlusconi’s group was ahead with 31 percent to 29.7 percent.
Failure to win a majority in the Senate could force Bersani to seek a coalition with outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, which analysts warn might prove unsteady because of differences between the two camps.
A percentage loss in the Senate, however, does not mean that the left would fail to win a majority because of complex electoral laws that are decided based on regional votes.
“Parliament risks being ungovernable if there are different majorities in the two chambers,” the financial information website firstonline.info said.
It said the exit polls and the projections were a “see-sawing.”
The newcomer Five Star Movement led by former comedian Beppe Grillo, who has channeled growing disenchantment with traditional politicians and rising social discontent, meanwhile was given around 20 percent by the exit polls.
European capitals and the financial markets have been concerned that no clear winner will emerge, bringing fresh instability to the euro zone’s third largest economy after Germany and France.
Investors hailed the first signs of a possible leftist victory with stocks in Milan jumping by more than 3.5 percent after the exit polls.
The rally slowed however and went into negative territory after it became clear that the race might be too close to call in the Senate.
A lackluster turnout compared to previous votes also reflected widespread frustration among voters fed up with austerity cuts and grinding recession.
Turnout was around 75 percent — five percentage points lower than at the same time in the last elections in 2008.
Outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti was slated for fourth place according to the exit polls, with only around 10 percent of the vote.
Italian commentators have predicted a major protest vote.
“Italy turns its back on politics, deserts the ballot boxes, and this is how it registers its protest,” wrote the left-wing daily Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Leading daily Corriere della Sera said the low turnout reflected an “acute disorientation” in the electorate, facing a “crisis with no end in sight.”
The wild card in the election has been Grillo, who has called for Italy’s debts to be canceled and for a referendum on whether to stay in the euro.
He spoke to packed city squares during the campaign, channeling the frustration of Italians enduring their longest recession in two decades.
Critics have said his party’s candidates are too inexperienced, while supporters say they could bring a much-needed breath of fresh air.