Italians, from black-clad nuns who left their convents at dawn to beach-bound women chasing a spring tan, began voting in key general elections on Sunday to determine if the center right returns to power.
A tranquil morning, with the weather mostly good, provided a stark contrast to the long and bitter campaign that pitted media mogul Sivlio Berlusconi for the center right against former Rome mayor Francesco Rutelli for the center left.
In Rome's colorful Trastevere district nuns and priests voted early before setting off on their Sunday religious duties while the area's young people cast ballots and took to their motor scooters to reach the Mediterranean just west of Rome.
Voting began at 6:30 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. (4 p.m. EDT). With a result that could be close, candidates have urged those considering abstaining to overcome their apathy.
The last permitted opinion polls gave the center right a four-point lead. Some analysts say neither bloc could win outright control of both houses of parliament, leaving them fishing for outside support.
Pollsters say the number of Italians who may not vote at all could be between eight million and 14 million or between 16 and 28 percent of eligible voters -- very high by Italian standards.
With a myriad of post-vote polls and projections due to be released after voting ends, early indications of the outcome may be far from clear. Definitive results are due on Monday.
Newspapers have compared the bitterness of the campaign to that of the pivotal 1948 polls in which the Christian Democrats defeated the communists to put Italy firmly in the Western bloc.
"Finally we are voting," said an editorial in Rome's left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper. "It has been a very long and tough campaign." -- ROME (Reuters)
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