Feature: Italians go to polls in crucial, highly unpredictable general election

by Alessandra Cardone

ROME, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Italians went to the polls to renew the parliament on Sunday, in a vote seen as both crucial and highly unpredictable.

Some 46.6 million people (out of 60 million citizens) were eligible to cast their ballot in 61,552 polling stations across the country -- open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. local time -- and there were 618 deputies and 309 senators to choose.

The vote was taking place under a new and untested electoral law, which would allocate a little over one-third of seats via a first-past-the-post system, and two-thirds on a proportional basis.

Compared to previous elections, the result of this new system was harder for analysts to forecast, and many predicted the vote would result in a hung parliament.

Nonetheless, Italians seemed quite eager to express their view, and the turnout registered during the day was averagely higher than the last political election in 2013.

Outside a polling station in central Piazza Mazzini -- in one of the wealthiest districts of the Italian capital -- Anna said her main reason to vote was "to keep Italy in a united Europe."

"I want a strong Italy, of course, but within Europe... and I felt this was the right time for us pro-Europeans to make our voices heard," she told Xinhua.

The woman, who works as an author, was worried because she saw a depressed mood and a very negative atmosphere prevailing in the country, despite the first signals of recovery.

"I am not saying everything is all right... but we have been through 10 terrible years, and just started to get back on our feet," Anna explained.

"This is not the moment to let ourselves be dominated by anger, and throw everything away."

Indeed, the vote came at the end of a very tense campaign, in which divisive issues dominated the public debate among candidates.

There were the major contenders: firstly, a center-right coalition comprising former Prime Minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia (FI) party, rightwing anti-immigrant League, and a third rightwing minor ally.

All opinion polls showed this center-right alliance was the front-runner, although 81-year-old Berlusconi was barred from holding public office until 2019 due to a tax-fraud conviction.

A tougher immigration policy was the "cement" of the coalition, but a divide emerged between FI's moderately pro-European stance and that of the two allies, much more critical towards the European Union (EU) and its fiscal rules.

Second key contender was anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), co-founded by comedian Beppe Grillo, and currently led by 31-year-old Luigi Di Maio, running for prime minister.

This was expected to be the most voted single party, according to opinion polls. Yet, the M5S has always refused to enter into alliance with other parties.

As such, despite a possible large electoral result, it might lack the necessary number of seats in parliament to govern alone, unless it changes its tactic.

The M5S's political platform called for a tougher immigration policy, a strong change in most of the policies implemented in the last years, and more public spending regardless of EU limits.

The third runner was a center-left, pro-EU coalition led by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD), with three minor allies.

After ruling the cabinets in the last five years -- implementing painful and often controversial economic and political reforms -- the PD was expected to lose support among voters.

Despite signs of a slow economic recovery indeed emerged since mid-2015 -- and a 1.5 percent growth was posted in 2017 -- many Italians were still feeling the pain of the deep crisis that hit the country since 2008.

The hardship fed anger, and bitter feelings towards the political establishment increased, visibly involving large sectors of the middle class.

Leaving her polling station in Tor Pignattara, a popular and multi-ethnic neighborhood in the east of Rome, 66-year-old Maria Antonietta was indeed in a angry mood.

"I have just cast my ballot now, and until the very last moment in the booth, I did not know what to vote," she told Xinhua.

Her difficulty was rooted in her dissatisfaction with the current fiscal policy: taxes were too high, and she was not sure what party would be best to choose in order to change it.

"We need constructive policies, and more support to citizens and especially to middle-class ones: we were those affected the worst in the crisis, and I find it outrageous," Antonietta explained. If no big changes intervene soon, the woman said she would be ready to leave the country.

On the opposite side by age and by attitude was Alessandro, a 31-year-old worker and student. "I voted to confirm some of the policies implemented so far, and to push for further changes in some other sectors," the man said.

A positive outcome for "extremist forces" represented Alessandro's worst fear. As for his priorities, he would like to see "the citizenship granted to the children of migrants, and more liberal policies on bio-ethical issues."

"Last but not least, I think the next government should help more the poor and the middle-class households, who have been destroyed by the crisis," he said. Enditem