Posted on 04/10/2006 1:42:12 PM PDT by HHKrepublican_2
ROME - Exit polls indicated Monday that the Italian parliamentary election pitting center-left economist Romano Prodi against flamboyant billionaire Premier Silvio Berlusconi was too close to call. ADVERTISEMENT
Projections showed Berlusconi's coalition leading in the Senate, but the two sides running neck-and-neck in the lower Chamber of Deputies.
Based on 95 percent of pollster Nexus' sampling, Berlusconi's alliance won 158 Senate seats, compared with Prodi's 151. The margin of error was between 1 and 3 percentage points.
Also, the projections did not account for six seats chosen by Italians abroad.
Voter turnout was about 84 percent, the Interior Ministry said.
Earlier projections showed Prodi's coalition set to defeat Berlusconi's. Prodi postponed a news conference after the latest projections were released.
The Senate and lower chamber of parliament have equal powers, and any coalition would have to control both to form a government.
Sounds like an almost even split.
Sounds like good news...
Law passed by Berlusconi himself last year says the majority automatically gets 340\360 seats to allow them to Govern the houses. Now we see why
Rome: According to at least three exit polls, Italy's Centre-Left coalition led by the former Prime Minister and E.U. Commission President, Romano Prodi, inflicted a crushing electoral defeat on outgoing Premier Silvio Berlusconi and his conservative alliance The House of Freedom. Official results will be made available in the early hours of Tuesday but political analysts and pollsters indicated that was little possibility of this trend being reversed.
Early results indicated that the conservative coalition had won between 40 to 45 per cent of the vote, while Mr. Prodi's centre-left alliance was tipped to win between 50-54 per cent for both the lower Chamber of Deputies and the Senate or upper house.
If the chambers are split then they will almost certainly have to have a new election (a 'grand coalition' is highly implausible). The early projections for the lower house are 49.9% to 49.6% so that pretty much means nothing.
There's also the overseas vote to be counted.
Now that is one smart politician.LOL!
Now its biting him in the arse. He would have had 49% of the seats..now cuz of his law he gets only 43%
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