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| Italy election: country goes to the polls – live | Italy election: country goes to the polls – live |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| With just over half an hour to go until polls close, a useful reminder that Italy’s exit polls have not always been very reliable - and with a new electoral system to contend with, they may be even less so: | |
| Just 45 minutes to go until polls close in #ItalyElections2018 and then we get exit polls. Remember, they have been horribly wrong in the past - but they have also moved markets big time. | |
| Berlusconi was confronted with by a Femen activist as he arrived to cast his ballot at a Milan polling station earlier today, writes Angela Giuffrida. | |
| Named as Melodie Mousavi Nameghi, a 29-year-old from France, the topless protestor jumped on top of a table and shouted: “Berlusconi, your time has run out!” | |
| She was detained by police and charged with resisting arrest and disturbing an election. Berlusconi told reporters: | |
| It was an apparition, I don’t know what happened, it was a ghost… I don’t know, I didn’t see anything. So my time is up? Maybe she wanted to say I had reached the end of the queue. | |
| A Femen topless activist confronted Silvio Berlusconi while he was voting for the #Elezioni4Marzo2018 Italian elections. pic.twitter.com/3Qf9BbgSM7 | |
| Just under an hour from the first exit polls, a brief reminder of who is standing and what they have - in some cases, you would have to say somewhat rashly - been promising Italy’s voters: | |
| Centre-right: Forza Italia, led by four-time prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, aims to introduce a “parallel currency” for domestic use, keeping the euro for international trade; have a single, flat rate income tax for companies and individuals; abolish housing, inheritance and road tax; double the minimum pension; introduce a minimum income of €1,000 a month for all and block new immigrant arrivals. | |
| Radical right: The League (formerly the Northern League), led by Matteo Salvini, would also introduce a parallel currency; abolish the EU’s fiscal compact; bring in a flat tax for all at 15%; allow earlier retirement; repatriate 100,000 illegal immigrants a year; and reopen Italy’s brothels. Brothers of Italy, led by Giorgia Meloni, is a southern equivalent of the League with neofascist roots and similar policies. | |
| Anti-establishment: The Five Star Movement, led by 31-year-old Luigi Di Maio, proposes a minimum monthly income of €780; raising the budget deficit; repealing 400 “useless” laws including labour and pension reforms to allow earlier retirement and make firing harder; raising taxes on energy companies and improving relations with Russia. | |
| Centre-left: The Democratic party, led by former prime minister Matteo Renzi, proposes an increase in the minimum wage; negotiating to abolish the fiscal compact and raising the budget deficit to 3% of GDP so as to cut taxes and increase investment. | |
| Left: Free and Equal is led by Pietro Grasso, and is a new party uniting smaller groups that left Renzi’s Democratic party. It proposes repealing labour and pension reforms and boosting public spending. | |
| The 2018 elections are taking place under a new and untested electoral law that has created a mixed system in which just over a third of parliamentarians in the upper and lower house are elected by first-past-the-post (FPTP), and two-thirds by proportional representation (PR) via party lists. | |
| Voters get two slips, one for each house, and can put one cross on each that will count for both the FPTP and PR elements. Candidates can stand in an FPTP ballot in one constituency, but also be on a party PR list in up to five constituencies. | |
| As the former New York Times Rome bureau chief notes, the new ballot papers are leading to some confusion: | |
| There are already reports of botched ballots in today's Italian election. Here's a sample ballot. A new electoral law dictates a combination of proportional representation and first-past-the-post. Super confusing. pic.twitter.com/UZeTiOt5CR | |
| Bad weather has hit Italy as hard as elsewhere in Europe over the past few days, but there’s at least one voter determined not to let snow get the better of her: | |
| Snow all around, no way to get my car out of the garage, 10km back and forth to the voting point, but I’m walking there no matter what. Voting is a right and a DUTY and I’ll do mine. No matter what you believe go vote! #Elezioni4Marzo2018 #ItalyElection2018 pic.twitter.com/3hnvPZMIuB | |
| Alberto Nardelli of Buzzfeed News reckons it’s going to be a long and probably eventful night, and he’s not the only one. | Alberto Nardelli of Buzzfeed News reckons it’s going to be a long and probably eventful night, and he’s not the only one. |
| One of the key things this Italian election is likely to test is Europe’s continuing appetite, after strong performances last year by France’s Front National and Germany’s AfD, for anti-establishment and nation-first populist parties: | One of the key things this Italian election is likely to test is Europe’s continuing appetite, after strong performances last year by France’s Front National and Germany’s AfD, for anti-establishment and nation-first populist parties: |
| Put your helmets on. It’s going to be a turbulent ride. 🇮🇹 | Put your helmets on. It’s going to be a turbulent ride. 🇮🇹 |
| The views of a few of Italy’s many overseas voters, collected by Angela Giuffrida and Lorenzo Tondo: | The views of a few of Italy’s many overseas voters, collected by Angela Giuffrida and Lorenzo Tondo: |
| Alberto Montalbano, London: | Alberto Montalbano, London: |
| I feel trapped between a rock and a hard place. I live in a country that voted to oust me, while my birthplace is swarming with populists talking tough about immigration. Italy has seen a large exodus of people in the past decade, not to mention the Italians who left in their millions in the last two centuries. What are they talking about? So I voted for the Democratic party. It’s not perfect, but it’s the only Europhile party left. For good or bad Europe is the future. | I feel trapped between a rock and a hard place. I live in a country that voted to oust me, while my birthplace is swarming with populists talking tough about immigration. Italy has seen a large exodus of people in the past decade, not to mention the Italians who left in their millions in the last two centuries. What are they talking about? So I voted for the Democratic party. It’s not perfect, but it’s the only Europhile party left. For good or bad Europe is the future. |
| Marco Barsotti, Nice: | Marco Barsotti, Nice: |
| The elections will probably result in a difficult country to govern. But not having a strong government may be an advantage, as the economy would then be capable of developing without obstacles. Italy wouldn’t be alone in that respect: think about Belgium, which in 2010 had no government for 589 days without big problems. | The elections will probably result in a difficult country to govern. But not having a strong government may be an advantage, as the economy would then be capable of developing without obstacles. Italy wouldn’t be alone in that respect: think about Belgium, which in 2010 had no government for 589 days without big problems. |
| Luca Guerreschi, Berlin: | Luca Guerreschi, Berlin: |
| Sometimes, Italians’ worst nightmares return: on TV, Berlusconi is the protagonist; on the streets, the fascists show their fierce face. I’m worried; I want to wake up to see a Jacobin, communist Italy - this is the Italy that those who fought in the resistance wanted, and it’s what we want too. | Sometimes, Italians’ worst nightmares return: on TV, Berlusconi is the protagonist; on the streets, the fascists show their fierce face. I’m worried; I want to wake up to see a Jacobin, communist Italy - this is the Italy that those who fought in the resistance wanted, and it’s what we want too. |
| The leader of the far-right, anti-immigrant League (formerly the Northern League) has been tweeting confidently that the political aspirations of centre-left Democratic party leader Matteo Renzi will soon have melted like the snow: | The leader of the far-right, anti-immigrant League (formerly the Northern League) has been tweeting confidently that the political aspirations of centre-left Democratic party leader Matteo Renzi will soon have melted like the snow: |
| Renzi domani farà la fine di questo simpatico pupazzo di neve: si scioglierà!😁😁😁 #elezioni2018 #oggivotoLega pic.twitter.com/xPwfglIdoK | Renzi domani farà la fine di questo simpatico pupazzo di neve: si scioglierà!😁😁😁 #elezioni2018 #oggivotoLega pic.twitter.com/xPwfglIdoK |
| Guardian correspondent Angela Giuffrida has this - as she notes - rather out of focus shot of a Rome polling station earlier this evening where voters spent upwards of two hours queuing to cast their ballots: | Guardian correspondent Angela Giuffrida has this - as she notes - rather out of focus shot of a Rome polling station earlier this evening where voters spent upwards of two hours queuing to cast their ballots: |
| Slightly blurry, but this was a Rome voting booth earlier this evening. High turnout despite the rain, some people waited more than two hours to vote, but wait they did as most I spoke to "want change" #ItalyElection2018 pic.twitter.com/bcN4sLSlqo | Slightly blurry, but this was a Rome voting booth earlier this evening. High turnout despite the rain, some people waited more than two hours to vote, but wait they did as most I spoke to "want change" #ItalyElection2018 pic.twitter.com/bcN4sLSlqo |
| Turnout at 7pm in Italy was estimated at around 58%, relatively low historically. As La Repubblica journalist Antonello Guerrero explains, that could translate into a final turnout of less than 70% - lower than in 2006, 2008 and 2013. | Turnout at 7pm in Italy was estimated at around 58%, relatively low historically. As La Repubblica journalist Antonello Guerrero explains, that could translate into a final turnout of less than 70% - lower than in 2006, 2008 and 2013. |
| 2. The Constitutional referendum turnout at 7 pm had a similar trend. Then (in 2016) the final turnout was 68,48%. If it stays so also today, it would be the lowest turnout in Italy republican history In fact, it was 75% in 2013, 81% in 2008, 84% in 2006#ItalyElection2018 pic.twitter.com/Dv5QuOiDRL | 2. The Constitutional referendum turnout at 7 pm had a similar trend. Then (in 2016) the final turnout was 68,48%. If it stays so also today, it would be the lowest turnout in Italy republican history In fact, it was 75% in 2013, 81% in 2008, 84% in 2006#ItalyElection2018 pic.twitter.com/Dv5QuOiDRL |
| Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage as Italy goes to the polls in one of its most uncertain general elections in many years. | Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage as Italy goes to the polls in one of its most uncertain general elections in many years. |
| Partly, that uncertainty is because voting is taking place under a new and as yet untested electoral law. Partly, it’s because as many as 30% of voters were still undecided this week. | Partly, that uncertainty is because voting is taking place under a new and as yet untested electoral law. Partly, it’s because as many as 30% of voters were still undecided this week. |
| And partly it’s because polls have long predicted the election will will result in a hung parliament, leading to possibly months of haggling to form a new coalition government. | And partly it’s because polls have long predicted the election will will result in a hung parliament, leading to possibly months of haggling to form a new coalition government. |
| Italy’s 46 million voters are fed up with a political class seemingly unable to do anything about Italy’s persistent problems: high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, corruption and a seemingly unending migration crisis. | Italy’s 46 million voters are fed up with a political class seemingly unable to do anything about Italy’s persistent problems: high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, corruption and a seemingly unending migration crisis. |
| Their vote could re-establish the veteran former prime minister and billionaire Silvio Berlusconi, 81, as the dominant force in Italian politics (even though he is barred from standing himself because of a tax fraud conviction). | Their vote could re-establish the veteran former prime minister and billionaire Silvio Berlusconi, 81, as the dominant force in Italian politics (even though he is barred from standing himself because of a tax fraud conviction). |
| It could show surging support for two populist parties, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (likely to emerge as the largest single party), and the far-right, nativist La Lega, a key member of Berlusconi’s rightwing coalition. | It could show surging support for two populist parties, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (likely to emerge as the largest single party), and the far-right, nativist La Lega, a key member of Berlusconi’s rightwing coalition. |
| Polls in Europe’s fourth largest economy opened at 7am and will close at 11pm (2200 GMT), with early exit polls expected soon after. Final results are not likely until early morning. | Polls in Europe’s fourth largest economy opened at 7am and will close at 11pm (2200 GMT), with early exit polls expected soon after. Final results are not likely until early morning. |
| Stay with us for the latest news and reaction - including on-the-spot reports from Guardian writers Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Angela Giuffrida and Lorenzo Tondo – through the night. | Stay with us for the latest news and reaction - including on-the-spot reports from Guardian writers Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Angela Giuffrida and Lorenzo Tondo – through the night. |