ITALY: Silvio Berlusconi's coalition risks losing power in financial capital of Milan as final day of voting takes place in local elections

Record ID: 863063

  • Title: ITALY: Silvio Berlusconi's coalition risks losing power in financial capital of Milan as final day of voting takes place in local elections
  • Date: 31st May 2011
  • Summary: NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING: 'VOTING, NUMBERS RISE' NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING: 'THE CARDS IN PLAY' NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING: 'THE HUNT FOR THE LAST VOTE'
  • Embargoed: 15th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • City:
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABR7LEA6DM8AC5TN0W114TH4RA
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  • Story Text: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition risks losing its northern power base of Milan to the left for the first time in 18 years as voting in local election run-offs closes on Monday (May 30).
    Nearly six million Italians are eligible to cast ballots in mayoral contests in 90 towns and six provinces, but the focus is squarely on the main battlegrounds of the financial capital Milan and the southern port of Naples.
    Results are expected after votingat 1300 GMT.
    "I am certain the results of the first round will be confirmed today," said Milan resident, Giuseppe Marli.
    Berlusconi suffered a drubbing in the first round of voting on May 15 and 16, when an uninspired centre-left easily held onto power in Turin and Bologna and forced the centre-right into run-offs in Naples and Milan, its long-time stronghold.
    The stakes are high. Defeat in his hometown of Milan would be a serious blow for a premier already weakened by a series of sex scandals, corruption trials and a sluggish economy.
    "I really hope candidate Pisapia wins, I am really convinced. I have seen the climate is changing -- Milan is really changing," said Cinzia Zarotti, another Milan resident, of left-wing candidate Giuliano Pisapia who took 48 percent of the vote in the first round.
    A loss would almost certainly deepen a rift with his main ally, the Northern League, and could provoke challenges to his otherwise unquestioned leadership of the centre right.
    The shock first round result had already set tongues wagging that Berlusconi's dominance of Italian politics for nearly two decades may be nearing its end -- though the media magnate has confounded such predictions many times before.
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