Posted on 04/10/2006 12:15:34 PM PDT by Eurotwit
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. 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 86 percent of pollster Nexus' sampling, Berlusconi's alliance won 157 Senate seats, compared with Prodi's 152. The margin of error for the sample was between 1 and 3 percentage points.
Also, the projections did not account for six seats chosen by Italians abroad.
Earlier projections showed Prodi set to beat Berlusconi. 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 in order to form a government. Berlusconi and Prodi have said new elections should be called if neither side controls both houses.
The U.S. Democratic Party has offered to help the Italian Left reject the ballots of any Italian soldiers.
is Prodi having a John F'ing Kerry moment now???
LOL! Can I get that Al Dente'?
The current returns at this moment have Berlusconi ahead in both the Chamber of Deputies (lower house) and the Senate (upper house), but it is mighty tight indeed.
Click on Dati Reali in Diretta: Senati for the count for the Senate,
and
Dati Reali in Diretta: Camera for the count for the House of Deputies.
Despite what was predicted by the exit polls (he he - have we heard that one before?) this is going to be a nail biter. The only thing that is clear is that Italy will have a new election within half a year at most.
LOL! "Too close to call" in the MSM usually means conservatives have a slight lead.
No, the counts still show Prodi ahead, but the margins are getting smaller and smaller.
I think you are looking at the computer based predictions based on counts in selected districts.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have the following:
Chamber of Deputies
Berlusconi: 50%
Prodi: 49.5%
Whichever coalition wins the most votes in this House automatically gets 55% of seats, securing a safe majority.
Senate:
Berlusconi: 48.8%
Prodi: 50.2%
Seats:
Silvio 158
Prodi 151
Although the Senate popular vote suggests Prodi has won, the Senate election uses a different system, and currently Berlusconi has an advantage in terms of seats.
Just now (9:27 pm, GMT +1):
In the Senate - Berlusconi's group: 49.55
Prodi's group: 49.59
Thanks for the info regarding seat counts.
See the link in my post #7
It's the same shite' they use here to keep voters home and unenthused. The Presidential exit polling was terrible in the 2004 election, and it was not accidental. The same trick was used in calling FL for Gore in 2000 even though the panhandle of FL, which is heavily Republican, still had time to vote because the region is in the Central Time Zone.
Berlusconi in the lead in the Senate race: 49.65 vs 49.51
The left-libs are stunned, stunned and shocked.
Couldn't let Bush have his victory moment.
Polls Now Say Italy Race Too Close to Call - 3:18pm
Italian election swings towards Berlusconi - 3:24pm
Berlusconi may cling on: projections - 3:32pm
In 2004 the media pundits tried to depress the whole nation into not voting for Bush on election day "Kerry's already won this..."
The first 10 minutes after the polls closed on the East Coast, all of the network talking heads were saying "Like his father, the story was It's the economy, stupid, Bush lost for this reason, blah blah blah..." When it became clear that Kerry WAS NOT blowing out Bush they changed their tune.
and seriously, parliamentary elections in Hungary are also very close, after the first round the leftist slightly in the lead.
But the exit polls said Prodi won, and they're never wrong! Diebold!
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